thirst4

I've been a part of starting a new ministry called "thirst". It's a young adult ministry that gathers twice a month at an area cafe. We do an hour of social time, then an hour of faith networking with a postmodern sensibility: art, conversation corners, blogging, prayer-libs, meditation room, etc. We come with no agendas, just the question, "what are you thirsting for in ______ (insert theme here, e.g. church, relationships, journey, etc.)?" We don't try to come up with answers or resolve anything -- the journey is the destination. We don't leave feeling quenched; the point is the thirst.

You can check out the blog at www.thirst4.blogspot.com I share with you here, a post that someone wrote at "thirst" this week about what the church often misses:

"Too Much Water"

Drinking too much water can cause dizziness, fatigue, and disorientation. Even if the water is filtered, purified, and sterilized. I had never heard about hyponatremia until I became a novice marathon runner. It seems to defy common sense. But many long-distance runners face serious health problems from drinking too much water --causing electrolytes to get out of balance. Ironically, many people confuse hyponatremia with dehydration. And they drink more water--making the condition worse--confusing the cure with the cause.

I wonder sometimes if the church suffers from hyponatremia. What is this heresy?! Too much water in the font. No, that's not what I mean. But I do think that sometimes we confuse the cause of our struggles with the cure...
--more programs
--more certainties
--more structure
--"stronger" leaders
--more "members"
--more, more, more

We confuse quantity with quality. We replace meaning with marketing. We stray from the way of the cross in pursuit of the path of safety.

Hyponatremia occurs when we consume more water than we can use in the pursuit of our labor. Certainly, members of the mainline church are thirsty these days. As we see membership decline--and the median age of our denomination increase, could God be calling us to empty ourselves--to make ourselves open to something new? We may want to cure our thirst by taking a drink of the familiar. But perhaps we are called to be thirsty, to explore the desires and the stirrings of the Spirit that can not be easily quenched. Perhaps the thirst will lead us to God. Perhaps the thirst is the cure--and not the problem.