Pseudocide ( or doing a Reggie)

Good morning God,

I've been thinking about the similarity between committing pseudocide (or as we Brits tend to say - doing a Reggie Perrin) and responding to your calling to discipleship.

For some people there is something distinctly alluring about walking away from life as it is, to seek the life that they always knew they should have had.. but somehow didn't get.. The mindless mediocrity of modern living is often such a stark contrast to the impulses engendered by the imagination of the soul that it is no wonder that people long for the difference, for the possibility to turn flights of fancy into reality. The awareness of being trapped in a life that is not unpleasant or distasteful merely boring and uneventful is part of the awakening of the soul.

This then is for many the real hunger and motivation behind the search for faith which we misguidedly refer to as a 'God shaped Hole' or the yearning for spirituality.

What many people are yearning for is personal fulfillment, creativity, meaning and opportunity.. a chance to be the person that deep down they believe they really are. They want a chance to break free from the mundane and BE..

And so we offer them....?

Church.

Another regular routine to slip into and another familiar face to wear.

Whereas - if we offered them YOU and the challenge of discipleship, they really could be transformed because you invite your disciples to live very different, imaginative, and creative lives.

You call your people to live dangerously, to take risks for the sake of your kingdom, to take part in a bigger enterprise where they are not just a cog in a wheel but an essential member of the team you have hand picked to assist in the evolution of all creation. You offer them a lousy salary (sorry God but you do) but a brilliantly unpredictable life - oh yes.. and a new identity too..

Becoming a disciple is your invitation to take up a new life - to walk away from everything that enslaves, demeans, and stifles the human soul.. without having to leave your pants in the sand!

You invite people to step out onto the waves, rather than into the sea.. to dare to be different.. rather than politely respectable.. for the sake of the hungry, the homeless, and those who believe they are truly hopeless.

So.. how much do we really want to leave our old lives behind?