Being
Spiritual
In A Non-spiritual World
Life in the city is harsh.
New York City is a magnet for self obsessed individuals coming to make something
of themselves. The attraction: fame & fortune.
Another reason people come here is to get away, and for some to run away.
The city is a place where you can get anything at anytime, making NYC the
epicenter of instant gratification. However, the city is a larger version
of what already exists in the world. You can’t run away from it. The dynamics of the city just feed into
our neuroses and inflate them. In this city we deal with explosive relationships,
greedy opportunists and mega-egos, making life in New York unpredictable and exhausting. Not an easy environment for people seeking a meaningful spiritual life.
And then there’s the gay community, which has evolved into its own dreadful monster. In the guise of freedom and gay rights, the gay community has put forth Greek god go-go dancers as poster boys, leaving the majority of non-gym going mortals as invisible aliens. Funny how the gay community has screamed about discrimination to the straight world, but has accepted and taught discrimination to its own community. And what about the GLBT community? Well…let’s face it, gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders don’t really talk to each other at all. And the gay community has replaced any form of spirituality with nonstop cruising sex/drug/dance parties.
And there’s us, GLBT Christians.
How can we be spiritual in this context? It is very difficult to live in this city and not be influenced by all the tempting merchandise parading in front of us. By accepting Christ, we have decided that we want more than what this world has to offer. And that is close companionship with Jesus Christ, the Lord and creator of the universe. A companionship where He walks with us in our life journey and shows us what really matters.
To be spiritual is to look beyond what is in front of us. It is to see that this life and its trappings is like running on a hamster wheel. It turns and turns, but is really going nowhere. And we’re still exhausted afterwards.
Being spiritual is about meditation, prayer, humility, reflection and action. To be spiritual is to be real in a world of cloudy illusions and misdirected ambitions. But to be truly spiritual, we also need to act. To act on goodness, forgiveness and love. Through meditation and reflection in Christ we receive a true spiritual awakening, but then we need to rise up and act, else we become like every other self absorbed hermit in this metropolis.
To be spiritual is to act and interact with others. To interact with the human race. To be spiritual is to pass on the love, kindness, peace, patience, joy and gentleness which has been bestowed to us.
To be spiritual is to show genuine love to those who are not spiritual.
This is the Great Commission.
© 2003 Edrick
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