The spirituality of lingering

The art and practice of Outpouring

Meeting up with friends last night in Nashville over Italian food (I had "rustic salmon" with capers, kalamata olives and roasted tomatoes and Clint had Nonna's lasagna with butternut squash and feta--because food is important!), we lingered in the autumn evening. The restaurant had a very "little Italy" feel--cozy, with twinkle lights, and the rich smells of alfredo and pesto. The lights dimmed halfway through the meal, the candles danced, and it just made us lean in and talk and laugh more.

We lingered.

Lingering is a lovely word--"staying at a place for a long time with a reluctance to leave". Louisa May Alcott's quote "Stay is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary" is the heart of linger. The time and space to linger is both a gift and a privilege. Not everyone gets to choose to be "off the clock" and away from obligations enough to linger. Modern life is so busy not only in our calendars, but existentially. We are busy. We are so busy, that it is not just a matter of calendaring, but a matter of the soul.

Our souls are busy. I know mine is. I am guessing yours is too.

Yesterday morning I spoke at a church in Nashville and I got to share about the Outpouring at Asbury and how we saw God move. As I read about movements of God, and what we learned at Asbury, one of the words that rises up is linger.

The students lingered in God. We lingered in worship. At other revivals and services, one of the common threads is lingering together in God’s spirit.

The work of God does not match our hustle, it is slow...existentially slow. The slow work of God does not match our pace or keep up with our calendars. Unmoved by the tick-tick of clocks or the digital pings of calendars, God's time flows through us gradually, much like water slowly weaving its path through rock. Well, hopefully faster than that…but sometimes it seems that God’s way is incredibly s-l-o-w.

The heart of the Outpouring of God at Asbury was standing under the drenching force of God's love that was immersive, but slow. No one stopped by Hughes for a "few minutes". It was hours that melted away as we lingered in the Spirit.

In the Old Testament , the temple symbolized the way that Divinity and Humanity overlaps. In the Holy of Holies, the ark of the covenant resided as a sign of God's presence with God's people. Now, we are the walking-around-temples of God, people who are living stones built as God's Spirit to dwell. We are walking in-God-dwellers. When we linger in God, we practice being microcosms of God's presence with feet and hands, walking around in the world breathing the breath of God on ourselves and on the world.

When we linger together, the Presence of God is scaffolded in a way that gives space for the Spirit of God to take residence with us in a whole other way. Lingering in the Spirit of God is a deeply spiritual act. And it seems to be connected to the outpouring of God's love--not just at Asbury, but other historical revivals.

Because it is not only our calendars who are busy, but our very souls, this lingering is like standing in a current that is threatening to pull us out to sea.

What if lingering in God is one of the most subversive, kingdom of God things you can do?

What if the more we linger in God, the more we experience the immersive presence of Jesus?

What if lingering opens us to the slow work and healing of God in a whole other dimension?

The antidote for the busy soul is to linger in God. I think that might work its way out into our calendars as well.

I really love that dinner parties are part of a spiritual movement. When we linger with God’s people, it opens up space for the Holy Spirit. Isn’t that like God? Making dinner parties a gift of the kingdom! Come on! This is the best life.