When Elvis has (in fact) left the building

Think of it like a lovely girl. I meet her and I like her. I love to be with her, to meet up with her and chat. The problem is that, although we love each other, our lives are so busy that we hardly ever see one another. So we decide to make a weekly appointment. On a Thursday evening we will meet in our favourite restaurant, and that will be our time together. We will not let anything else interrupt it. Every week we look forward to our dinner together and these times are bliss from beginning to end. One thing leads to the next and eventually we marry. That should have solved the challenges that we face but it doesn’t, even after we’re married we struggle to find time for each other in our busy lives. So we continue our fixed weekly dates.

After a couple of years, however, our love for one other begins to wane. We still have our weekly meetings but they are not the same. I do not think about them the same way anymore. The passion is gone. Now I complain about silly things, about the place where we meet and the quality of the food. Also, our meeting time always seems to clash with my other important appointments now. In short, we begin to fight about all the unimportant things which now define our relationship.

Christianity can be like that. Christianity is a strange creature. We are so easily duped by the sparkle and the bling of the exterior things, only later to discover that the life-force has gone, the very source of our passion – poof! Gone!

The love I receive from Jesus (the actual person, not the concept) is my driving force, and yet… when my passion for him begins to wane, our relationship is defined by the ‘meeting places’. The very things I used to love because of the opportunity they afforded me to meet with Jesus replace the real relationship I had.

Christianity is not the songs we sing repeatedly, it is not the church meetings or the prayers, it is not the bread or the wine, it is not the camps, the friends or the sermons, it is not gifts to poor people or prayer for the sick. These are the meeting places with my precious Jesus. They are opportunities! I can find him there if I am looking for him.

I have been a Christian long enough now to recognize that sinking feeling I get when the realisation hits me that we are all still here and we are all very excited, but Elvis (that elusive fellow) has left the building. How tragically ironic that we can stand in a Church meeting, listen to a sermon, even sing a song to an ethereal being we call Jesus, and never enjoy the thrill of actually being with him – THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF THE EXERCISE!

May the party never go on without Jesus.