Stirring Up Apathetic Spirits

I am constantly reminded of the power of eye contact.  In some cultures, eye contact is avoided.  In other cultures, eye contact demonstrates a desire to connect with another person.

I have always been a person who invites eye contact during conversations.  I feel connected to person when eye contact is present.  I have refrained from using sunglasses at points because I sense that other people do not feel as connected to me  during our conversations when they can’t see my eyes.  I know that I feel that way when someone else is wearing sunglasses.

With that said, I noticed a pattern the other day with my 7 month year old daughter.  She doesn’t look away when I make eye contact.  I can look at her from any angle or any distance and she will maintain eye contact.  One of my favorite interactions with her is to catch her eyes from 10 ft or so away and then move toward her without moving my eyes or blinking.  She looks directly back without blinking or turning.

Why do we often look away when we have extensive eye contact with another person?

In many ways, I think that part of us wants to hide from the other person.  We do not want to be truly known because if another person really knew who we were then they probably wouldn’t accept us.  This fear rules in almost every relationship that I know - both mine and others.

Babies do not know (have never learned) how to avoid eye contact.

As we grow older and shame and secrets take form, we turn our eyes away from others…  but when we make real eye contact with a true friend, then we can get a glimpse of the unconditional love that God has for us and that we can offer others by God’s grace.

Have you noticed any similar patterns with eye contact?

Why do you think most people are unable to maintain consistent eye contact with others?

I decided to step away from the church office in order to finalize the sermon for this Sunday.  I ended up eating at a place that has wireless internet access so I opened up my laptop to check my email.  I was ironically sidetracked to a book that I saw at a bookstore a few years ago titled “Never Eat Alone.”

I was eating alone so the book title came to my mind.  In particular, I remember scanning the beginning of the book a few years ago and reading that every meal should provide an opportunity to influence others and be influenced by others.

I looked around the restaurant and I noticed about 50% of the crowd was eating alone (like me).  The tables that had 2 or more individuals were sharing stories, ideas, updates and their lives with one another.  For me and the rest of the solo crowd, we were remaining the same .

The author of Never Eat Alone quotes Meg Wheatley (organizational behavior consultant) at the beginning of the book:

“Relationships are all there is.  Everything in the universe only exists because it is in relationship to everything else.  Nothing exists in isolation.  We have to stop pretending we are individuals that can go it alone.”

Nobody really exists in isolation even if we try to fool ourselves into thinking that is the case at points.  If anything, it is at the exact points that we pull back into isolation that we fail to exist at all (if “existing” is determined by our relation to others).

Here is a hypothesis that I’d like to test out here (and again this Sunday during the sermon): if we remain alone, we do not change - (conversely) when we do not change, we are left feeling alone.

What aspects of that two-sided statement are true?  What is the extent of the relationship between feeling alone and changing?  Can you think of an instance in your life when you felt alone because you were staying the same?

I was battling some apathy this morning so I asked God to wake me up through meditating on a section of Scripture.  The Old Testament book of Haggai immediately came to mind.

I read through the first chapter.  After reading a vivid description of apathy, I read this in vv 13-14 - “Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, gave this message of the LORD to his people, “I am with you,” declares the LORD.  So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people.  They came and began to work on the house of the LORD Almighty, their God.”

The people of God drifted toward apathy regarding God’s honor and purposes in the world.  At that point in time, God’s honor was seen and experienced in the temple.  Instead, the people drifted toward only focusing on themselves.  In 1:4, Haggai shares, “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in the paneled houses while this house (the temple) remains a ruin?”

In other words, do you only care about yourselves?

God then addressed these people through his messenger Haggai and God stirred up their apathetic spirits toward his purposes in the world.

What are some ways that the church needs to hear this word today?

In what ways, do we merely care for our own private worlds as opposed to responding to God’s invitation to participate in what he is doing in our community and the world?

Does this reminder stir you?  It stirs me up.  My prayer is that this blog will be used as an instrument to wake up sleeping people in order to maximize God’s impact in the world.

Leave a comment below and let’s talk about how God may be stirring you up and all of us up to live beyond our own “panelled houses.”