Middle Ground

1. This world is not my home I'm just passing through
my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue
the angels beckon me from Heaven's open door
and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

O Lord you know I have no friend like you
if Heaven's not my home then Lord what will I do?
the angels beckon me from Heaven's open door
and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

2. They're all expecting me and that's one thing I know
my savior pardoned me and now I onward go
I know He'll take me through though I am weak and poor
and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

O Lord you know I have no friend like you
if Heaven's not my home then Lord what will I do?
the angels beckon me from Heaven's open door
and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

3. Just up in Glory Land we'll live eternally
the Saints on every hand are shouting victory
their song of sweetest praise drifts back from Heaven's shore
and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

O Lord you know I have no friend like you
if Heaven's not my home then Lord what will I do?
the angels beckon me from Heaven's open door
and I can't feel at home in this world anymore

Because I went to a Church of Christ school, I think that I have sung this hymn about 841 times. I've recently been thinking about this hymn and the theological/ideological implications that it suggests. I have been asking if I am just passing through or something more than the mere tourist. What does it REALLY mean to be "in the world but not of the world?"

I've come to realize that there is a balance. I can't pass through so fast that I miss what's going on in the world around me, but I can't be so focused on what's around me that I lose sight of the journey. This balance has some serious implications. It means that I have to have courage to confront the difficult issues and actually have relationships with people, and it also means that I have to have the wisdom to see what does and does not matter. Does knowing whether or not God created the world in seven literal days really affect my faith and how I view God? Not really. Will truly loving someone that I don't understand/like/agree with/etc change how I understand God? Probably so.

But love is a difficult issue. Really loving someone the way that God loves that person involves a relationship. I can't just "love" them, and by love mean not physically hurt. Love is seeing the entirety of another person's life. It is seeking people out, where they are. It is being uncomfortable on a regular basis (I find using how comfortable I am is a good indicator of how my life is going--if I am comfortable, something isn't right and I'm probably missing out on something). I once had a Bible teacher who said that tithing isn't about giving 10%, but it's about giving until it hurts (like the woman who only had one coin and gave it to God even though it was all she had). I think love is the same way. If you aren't giving more than you think you can give, then you aren't giving enough.

If you don't know someone who is gay, or someone who's had an abortion/pregnancy scare, or someone who's struggled with addiction, or someone who is homeless, or anyone that doesn't have the freedom to hold up the "perfect" mask in front of their face, then who do you really know? Jesus said that what ever we do to the least, we do to Him. Staying within our church walls or only among the "righteous" limits our view of God. Who did Jesus choose to spend his time with? Tax collectors (aka the most hated people of the time), prostitutes, the sick whom no one else would even touch, and all the "undesirables." Who do you spend your time with?