I read a great little post today on the Not Religious blog that I thought was worth sharing some about.   Guest blogger Otto Von Wachter gave some great thoughts on finding a cure for resignation and cynicism.  Here's one snippet: 

Full-gospel church, now with 30% more Jesus!

I ran into an old acquaintance at the Vineyard in Cambridge when I was there for the Culture Center Summit. I asked her how life was going and whether she was involved at church. I thought to myself that, being in another city, if only I was at a cool church like this one then I would be really involved. She seemed kind of blah as I waited for her response, there was little enthusiasm there. She said something like "I'm not sure this is the right church for me". I forgot exactly her words, but basically she felt that the church was kind of shallow, didn't have much depth to it. She said, "I need something meatier, some place where they study and talk more about the Bible". On the one hand, I got what she meant, she felt she needed to go on to the next level in her learning of the Bible. But on the other hand I thought to myself "No, what you really need to do is to get out and DO something with your faith". I felt like I was struck by a flash of insight. I felt like I got something about the story of the rich young ruler in gospels, which Dave S. had mentioned in a blog post just a few days earlier (and I remember scratching my head and not quite getting the reference to it).

It seems to me that in a way, in our affluent society we are all a little like that rich young ruler, searching for significance, looking for the right guru or mentor to give us the answer to the meaning of life. I bet Jesus knew the heart of this man, and he knew that what would give meaning to his life and what would light him up would be to give away his possessions and to love the poor through the huge generosity of giving away his riches. But the rich young man wasn't in touch with his own need for being loving, and he didn't see the connection. He didn't see how all his possessions were actually isolating him, from God and from others. He probably walked away thinking "This guy isn't very deep, what kind of an answer is that?" What I got from my conversation with that acquaintance at church was how much I was the same as her, how I searched for the "right church" as a consumer, looking for a church that has all the right qualities so I could experience being fulfilled. I was looking for that church with authentic flavor, one with 30% more Jesus.

Otto goes on to pose the question:  is there a difference between being "in the game" and "watching/analyzing" from the stands?  He thinks that there is a real difference between the two... a difference that tends to significantly shape our experience of faith and life.  I think I've found that to be true as well.  Just a week or so ago, I found myself feeling a bit down, wading through a number of questions for my own life and inside our church.   After awhile of sorting through that stuff, I just felt more discouraged.  The next day, I ended up spending some time thinking about how to go make a difference in our community by helping people connect with Jesus.  I only got to some planning stages, but even that seemed to lift me.  I wasn't stuck just thinking about myself and my challenges.  Somehow, as I thought about how to help others connect with the real power and truth of Jesus, I was finding myself being encouraged and full of more joy.  It was a good lesson for me, and one I'm trying to live each day. 

You can read Otto's full post here.