Something’s Missing #2

Daniel Hill

March 18, 2011

My last post ended with a seminal spiritual conversation that I had with a good friend just after college.

From one angle, my friend made a lot of good points. I had to agree with him that Christianity did not seem to frequently enough produce the type of authentic, exciting, and vibrant life that you would expect it to. On the other hand, I was pretty sure that didn’t match up with how God wanted it to work. So that made me wonder if what we had actually experienced was a failure of Christianity, or if it was more of a failure on our part to accurately interact with and apply the essence of Christianity to our lives.

This was a significant spiritual crossroads for me, and led me into a new and deepening walk with God. I grew a lot over those next few years, and my context was among a group of Christians that shared a very similar perspective on growth and maturity. The image of the ‘Great Commandment’ was often evoked to describe Christian maturity in our context. Here is how Jesus describes the Great Commandment in Matthew 22:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Though this was a creedal text, my experience was that the front half of this Commandment was the really important part. Christian maturity and growth was often thought of in terms of loving God “with all your heart and all your soul and with all your mind.” There was a significant emphasis on learning the right doctrines and right beliefs that led to loving God with all of your heart, soul, and mind. This logically led to a strong emphasis on disciplines that would grow a person in these doctrines and beliefs, with the hope that this truth and knowledge would then naturally (or even supernaturally) lead to an outgrowth of personal morality and personal righteousness.

For the record, I agree with all of that. I believe loving God with all your heart, soul, and mind should be my preoccupation as a human being and child of God. I believe that how you think about God and what your doctrines are significantly shape the direction of your life. But that is not the point of this post.

What I am exploring in these 3 posts is the idea that something’s missing. Even for many of those who are trying to love God with all of their heart, soul, and mind. What I discovered time and time again was that many young people (that was my context at the time) felt like something was missing, even when trying their hardest to live out a spiritually mature life. There was a dreariness to their spiritual reality instead of the vibrancy they longed for. There was a dullness that marked their day-to-day faith instead of a sense of intrigue and anticipation for how God might move that day. There was a mundaneness that was too regular in their spiritual lives, when what they really longed for was excitement and imagination.

Many of these people loved God dearly, and wanted to be more fully alive. They just didn’t know how. They didn’t know what it was that was missing. They just knew something was.

I’ve got some theories as to what was missing, and eventually I will get around to sharing those. But I would really love to hear from many of you before moving forward. Though I would welcome comments from those at all different points of the journey, I would like to hear particularly from those that I described in this entry. If you would self-identify as a Christian, and have been spiritually formed in a context that emphasizes the front half of the Great Commandment (love God with all your heart, soul, and mind), please share your thoughts!

Have you had this sense that despite your earnestness to grow spiritually, that something still feels like it is missing? If so, what do you think it is? Please share!

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Daniel Hill

I am a lifelong Chicagoan, a pastor at River City Community Church, and an author who writes a lot about resisting and confronting white supremacy from a faith lens. Our church was founded in January of 2003 in the west Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago, and is centered on the core values of worship, reconciliation, and neighborhood development. We long to see increased spiritual renewal as well as social and economic justice in the Humboldt Park neighborhood and entire city, demonstrating compassion and alleviating poverty as tangible expressions of the Kingdom of God. It is also through the gift of this faith community that I have learned to see the profound historical and spiritual impact of the stronghold of white supremacy, and where I have been challenged to broaden and deepen my understanding of discipleship in the hopes of becoming a serious enough Christ follower who is able to meaningfully participate with those who have risen up in defiance of this evil principality. The lessons learned in this journey have been captured in a pair of books on race. The first, White Awake, explores the barriers that white people tend to face – white Christians specifically – when we attempt to awaken to and understand white supremacy through a faith lens. I spend a lot of time here addressing the internal defenses that are bound to go off when this journey is taken seriously, and I chart out a path for developing a resilient spirit that steadfastly moves towards truth, justice, and equity. The second, White Lies, further builds out the path for the white Christian who longs to actively participate in the resistance and confrontation of white supremacy. I spend a lot of time here exploring why it is so hard to tell the truth about race, as well as expose the lies that sustain it, within white, Christian, Bible-believing environments. I then propose nine practices that position us for engaging in this task. On the personal front, my career started in the marketplace, as I was part of three dot.com startups in the 90’s. My vocational path shifted when I joined the staff of Willow Creek Community Church in 1998, and I spent five years working there. I started River City Community Church in January 2003 and have been happily serving here ever since. On the education front, my undergrad was in Business (Purdue University), my graduate degree in theology (Moody Bible Institute), and my doctoral degree in community development (Northern Seminary). On the family front, my wife is a Professor of Psychology, and we have two amazing children (Xander and Gabriella).

3 responses to “Something’s Missing #2”

nilwona

March 18, 2011 at 11:32 am

I’m grateful that this has never been my experience as a Christian (there’s never a dull moment in my life with God). However, I’m interested to hear from those who do find themselves in the place you’re describing.

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Luis Agron

March 18, 2011 at 12:12 pm

Hello Everyone,

I see this is a very interesting engagement to stumble across,good topic major props to Pastor Daniel!.

So… i felt this spoke to me so i will lend my thoughts as to why i consider myself a Christian,and where or why there is a void or area that needs attention to fully be %100 in
the spirit with our Lord.As being considerably still young i find the pressures of the faith to be although ideal and righteous,to be allot of dedication among all the other responsibilities life has thrown at me or us daily.Still i long and in heart want to be seen in good light for lack of a better word with Jesus.It’s the thought or feeling of growing out of my youth too early and the thought of what i could be missing in the world,regardless if i know the world is not something worth to gain over Christ.Not everyone’s situation is the same on this topic and some have obstacles like i have to get to the promised land sort of speak and the most important thing that can get me closer i believe is spiritual support even when i am not living in the spirit.God Bless you all.

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Brigitte

March 18, 2011 at 1:44 pm

There have been times when I have experienced the “mundaneness” in my spiritual life….times when something was missing. Those have been the times when I have not been practicing diligence in prayer, reading, studying, meditating. Those have been the times when I have not had the strongest faith in God. Those were the times that I doubted him and his purpose for my life.
I sometimes go there and have lately been able to catch myself-or someone else points it out.
Those are just some of the things, that I feel are missing.

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