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Home Page
The Rector's Welcome
Worship
Sermons
Music & the Organ
Newsletter
Schedule & Events
History
Programs & Ministries
Tour the Building
Links
Map & Directions
Monthly Calendar
Home Page
The Rector's Welcome
Worship
Sermons
Music & the Organ
Newsletter
Schedule & Events
History
Programs & Ministries
Tour the Building
Links
Map & Directions
Monthly Calendar
Fr. J. D. Ousley
24 September 2006Mk.9“Spirituality v. Religion”
In the Name of God: Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. Amen.
How often we hear "spirituality" contrasted with "religion."
A woman once called me to arrange a funeral for her father who had just died. In the course of our conversation, I asked whether the father went to church regularly. His daughter replied, "Well, no, he didn't go to church. But," she said, "he was a very spiritual person."
By that remark, I guess, the woman implied that her father had solid moral values, and he cared about his inner life, and he might even have prayed on occasion. Despite these spiritual qualities, however, the man felt no need to attach himself to a specific religious community.
And we can see the attractiveness of this idea of "spirituality." It seems to have a tolerance, an openness, even a purity that religion doesn't have.
"Spirituality" suggests peaceful images and thoughts; while the practice of a specific "religion" connotes — for many people — judgment and conflict.
But there are problems with this neat division into good, positive "spirituality" and not-so-good, negative "religion." Lots of problems — in fact, so many that I can't begin to discuss them all today.
You will not be surprised that I would want to defend the practice of religion! That is my job! And I am willing to defend religion even though I recognize that many religious leaders these days delight in projecting harsh judgments about God and humanity that don't seem very "spiritual" at all.
But I would argue that religion doesn't conflict with spirituality; rather it forms its foundation. Without theology — without religious ideas, spirituality has a tendency to fade into wispy feelings.
So if you consider yourself a spiritual person, and you=re facing a crisis in your life, you may well find that you want more to comfort you than your own emotions. You may aspire to the reassuring religious belief that God exists — that there is a powerful and loving divine force who cares for you in your suffering and who will respond to your needs.
I would still grant that false religious beliefs can have a hugely negative impact. Intolerant and violent leaders give religion a bad name. (I have Christianity mostly in mind because that's the religion I know from the inside, but I think this is true of other major faiths as well.)
And notice that the "spirituality" of these religious leaders isn't very attractive, either. Distorted by their beliefs, fanatics pray for the wrong things. What inner peace they might find comes only at the expense of making those who disagree with them suffer.
So instead of letting zealots follow their emotions, sound religion condemns fundamentalists as the real heretics.
While the fanatics' spirituality is more robust than the dilettantes who only dabble in religion, the basic beliefs of extreme religion are badly disjointed. The problem isn't the fact that they are "religious" instead of "spiritual;" the problem is that their harsh religion has warped their spirituality.
Yet people who say they aren't religious may be deceiving themselves, too. People who claim only to be interested in the spiritual may be more influenced by religion than they think. Take a typical "spiritual" person, a person who meditates, who eats healthy, organic food, and who tries to adopt an attitude of general benevolence toward all the creatures of the world.
It would be hard to quarrel with this "spirituality." The world is better off with these folks than with many religious fanatics!
But we still may ask where such spiritual people get their good habits? Where do the meditation, the vegetarian diet and the hope for peace on earth come from?
In fact, the origin of these spiritual practices is religion. Almost every major faith includes meditation techniques and diets that are designed to direct the soul toward the divine.
And those who feel called to a spiritual witness for peace may often be influenced by religious figures like Mahatma Gandhi, who was a Hindu and Martin Luther King who was a Christian.
Of course, you don't need to be either Hindu or Christian to espouse non-violent solutions to conflicts. But both Gandhi and King were driven by more than their personal emotions. They felt called by God.
Indeed, they were swept into history not by their spirituality but by their religious beliefs, by their doctrinal attachment to organized world religions. Gandhi's and King's mass movement for peace would have had no consequences without those attachments.
And in our time of battles between different religions, it's worth noting that Gandhi frequently praised the teachings of Jesus, and Martin Luther King was profoundly influenced by his study of the Hindu pacificism of Mahatma Gandhi!
So spirituality depends on religion. Notice that in the Gospel lesson today, Jesus is teaching his disciples about the sacrifices they will have to make if they follow him.
At one point, Jesus sees a nearby child and takes the child in his arms, and he says, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me, welcomes him who sent me."
Now this is an appropriate text as we think about religion and spirituality because children are much more interested in religion.
Rather than wondering about healthy diets or inner anxieties, they tend to ask robust, philosophical questions. Children ask, "Why did Grandpa have to die?" They ask, "Where is God?"
And they won't be satisfied if their parents reply, "Don't worry, you'll work out answers to those questions when you're older." The children are thinking about these deep matters right now; they don't want to put off their quest.
Nor will they be deflected by the "spirituality" lessons on how to meditate. They will continue to question the evil in the world; they'll wonder about the nature of the divine.
And so children need to hear about the Christian belief that Jesus reveals God — that while we can't see God, we do have some idea of what he is like when we read the Bible's stories about Jesus. (And, incidentally, we learn from today's lesson from Mark's Gospel that Jesus really loved children and demanded that they be respected! We can be sure God does, too.)
As for why Grandpa had to die, our faith recognizes that there is evil in the world; death is one of the greatest of those evils. But we also believe that Jesus gives us the way to overcome death.
In the Gospel lesson, Christ not only predicts his own early death but his coming back to life. And in his resurrection, Grandpa and everyone else will find new life forever.
But even to begin to answer such basic questions requires thought, as well as doctrine and theology — in other words, religion.
So, both spirituality and religion work together. They both help us not to be, "anxious about earthly things."
They are different ways of talking about the relationship between humanity and the divine. One is not better than the other, although, in my view, religion is the larger category, including spirituality as, for example, it includes prayer.
Ideally, then, one can be a spiritual person and a religious person at the same time. Our belief that God hears our prayers encourages us to offer our petitions — to have a "prayer life."
And, at the end of this service, as we follow the ancient Christian custom of "passing the peace," we will be reminded that our religious belief that God offers spiritual "peace that passeth all understanding" helps us to seek peace in ourselves, and peace in our world.
And now unto that same God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be ascribed as is most justly due all might, majesty, power, dominion and praise, now and forever, Amen.