Where Has the Passion Gone?

Passion.

The dictionary defines “passion” as a powerful or compelling emotion. We’ve seen such passion evinced frequently in recent days.

Throughout arenas, restaurants, bars and homes, the past few weekends have been replete with the passion of folks rooting on their favorite basketball teams. They wear their favorite colors. They yell with joy or shed tears of grief. For every winner, there is a loser. But there’s plenty of passion to go around.

In our nation’s capital, people are shouting and waving signs. Not in support of a basketball team, but in reaction to legislation that will have profound effects upon our nation’s healthcare system. Some support the legislation and others oppose it. At the end of the day, only one side went home happy. But both sides show tremendous passion for their cause.

If you read the blogs, Facebook, My Space or Twitter, you’ll find plenty of people expressing their passion. Passion for their teams (or against someone else’s). Passion for or against the healthcare reform bill. People who are otherwise pretty silent in these forums jump into such debates with, well, passion.

And then there’s the Passion. It’s capitalized because it has to do with the Savior, the Lord of lords and the King of kings. It is a term applied to the sufferings of Christ on the cross.

If anything should evoke passion among Christians, it is this time of year. Jesus lived a perfect life and gave Himself for sinners who don’t deserve such grace and mercy. He died to do for us what we can not do for ourselves. He rose again to bring hope to the hopeless.

But where are the cheers? Where are the expressions of emotion?

While the social networks are filled with words of passion about basketball and politics, there is little passion expressed about Christ. In fact, a recent survey revealed that only about 31% of active church-goers have definite plans to invite someone to church on Easter Sunday. Of course, that same survey indicated that only 42% of Americans specifically identify Easter with the resurrection of Christ, so we shouldn’t be surprised that there’s little connection between attending a worship service and Easter.

What was perhaps even more disconcerting was that “…those who articulate a resurrection-related concept of Easter are no more likely than other religiously oriented Americans to indicate that they will invite friends to worship with them on Easter.”

In other words, whether you believe that Easter is associated with the resurrection of Christ or not does not affect the likelihood that you’ll invite someone to church on Easter. Seems to me that Christians lack a bit of…passion.

Oh well, at least we’ll still have basketball and politics.