Heavy topic today. Are the terms ‘religion and spirituality’ synonymous? I have had it explained to me both ways over the years and I still have questions.
Religion to me is a system of belief supported by historical
and faith systems. Some history is alleged as fact while most admit the facts
are hard to prove. That is where faith comes in. Faith is
acceptance of the unseen, unexperienced, yet essential ‘facts’ that make
religion dynamic, believable. The faithful know who they are yet question
beliefs from time to time. Are there blind faithful? Yes; they are usually
dogmatic and assertive in their beliefs and want others to experience faith in
the same way they do.
Modern society is like society at any given time in
the past. Each budding generation asks similar questions about religion and
belief. They wonder what is true. They ponder questions of hope and happiness.
They seek peace and calm in a chaotic world. Their questions lead to heartfelt
discussions. These may yield faith but more likely arrive at comfort positions
the younger folk can carry with them for a while. Not convinced of the truth,
not convinced yet to accept the unprovable as fact, they are hopeful but not
faithful.
How does ‘church’ communicate with these people? They are
always present. Every year of existence in the life of the church these
questions remain the same and in multitude. What language is used to communicate
with them? What is the message communicated? What outcomes does the church
struggle for? Indeed, what outcomes do the people asking the questions want,
yearn for?
Does this call for new styles of ministry? New ways to
worship on Sundays, or Wednesdays, in the morning or in the evening? What
changes in church make different outcomes?
Generations of church leaders have struggled with this
forever. They have tried contemporary worship services, service projects, Bible
studies, Koran studies, Torah studies, and individual counseling. They have
invented modern ministries that take comfortable people into uncomfortable
places to help the afflicted. They serve suppers to the homeless at midnight.
They host homeless shelters in their church buildings on alternate weeks,
alternate days, alternate months. They find jobs for the unemployed. They find
healthcare for the indigent and elderly.
All of these things are good. The effort is real. The
passion is well meant. But the outcomes? Does this work change
minds and lives? Of the doers or the recipients? Helping others in need is the
call universal. It is done out of compassion, but it also is done to teach the
doer something difficult to grasp.
Is the church worship? Is the church service? Is the church
study? Is the church brick and mortar, place?
Spirituality on the other hand is the individual seeking
peace and motivation to value and appreciate life as it is encountered daily.
When young kids, drug addicts all, were asked what is spiritual for them, almost
always the answer was visits to nature, forests, canyons, calm lakes in
wild places, rushing rivers in mountainous hideaways. The smell of fresh air.
The silence of being alone in a forest or desert. Those moments when an
individual feels reality around him/her. Hears the heart beating. Feels air
moving over the skin. The birdsong now heard when little else sounds.
The self feels real at those moments while at the same time
sensing how little they are in the universe around them. That is profound
feeling. Seeking depth and breadth, the person somehow knows that there is
something much larger than they. That is spiritual dynamic known by the person.
It is found by the person alone. The journey is theirs alone. It need not be
the product of group activity or of church.
Discovery is part of journey. Spiritual is part of faith.
What people do with this in their lives is up to them. The process continues
year after decade after century. The millennia accumulate. It is not over.
August 6, 2021
No comments:
Post a Comment