The Quest for Transcendence

I was reading an article the other day, and the author mentioned (totally in passing, not on topic AT ALL) the possibility that our culture is sex-obsessed because sex is one of the only transcendent experiences that remain open to us.

This got me thinking. How much of what we Christians rail against can be ascribed to the search for transcendent experience? Sexual Immorality (see: abortion, homosexuality, etc.), the drug culture, New Age spirituality, gambling (the rush of the cards turning), and the list goes on. The common statement "Is this all there is? There must be something more to life." is the expression of the soul's longing for transcendence.

How can we not have compassion for these? We were CREATED for the ultimate transcendent experience -- a continuous, loving relationship with our creator. But it seems that, somehow, the church reacted to the culture by downplaying or eliminating transcendent experience out of fear or need for control or whatever else we use to justify these things. Here's the thing: transcendent experience is transformational. If we, as individuals and as a body run from transcendence, we cannot be changed. If we are not changed -- if our faith doesn't make us DIFFERENT-- how can we possibly think we can be attractive? If the church doesn't break ground for the culture in seeking and living out rightly-ordered transcendence, how can things not get worse?

I am so grateful to be a part of a community that embraces and calls out transcendent experiences -- even when they're painful, even when they call us beyond where we can go.