Passionate Spirituality

I was at a workshop yesterday where the group was asked, "What does passionate spirituality look like?"

I was squirming in my seat as story after story was told about someone 'inside' the church. "John came to church & at first was aloof then after a few months wanted to help out in Sunday school." "Rich & Sally showed up at church as we were leaving the building one Sunday. They said they were looking for a church home. They began coming, started teaching Alpha and turned the church around."

I wanted to ask (and should have) doesn't anyone have a story of what passionate spirituality looks like 'outside' the church? Are we so narrow sighted that our understanding of passionate spirituality is linked only to Christians carrying out church duties?

What about the story of the woman who has faced numerous adversities? She gets knocked down only to get up & getting knocked down again. She hasn't become critical and cynical, in fact, she lives out what is attractive about Jesus in her life as she continues to put the needs of others before her own and does so with honest joy.

I could be more skeptical of others but I don't measure passionate spirituality by what I experience in the church at a typical worship gathering or during a weekly church program. In fact, (sad as it may seem) I lean more towards what I see and hear at those gatherings as exaggerated and often masking a hidden reality. Jesus in the everyday life of a believer - that's a beautiful & attractive thing.

So, passionate spirituality - what does it look like?