There is a phenomenon sweeping the West at the very least and perhaps the whole world that pits religion against spirituality. The many studies that have been done in our country these past 15 years, including a couple by the United Church of Canada, including the Identity Survey most recently, has identified the issue as being, "I am spiritual but not religious." It has been suggested that institutional religions are at the heart of all that's wrong with the world, religion being defined as doctrines, dogmas, laws and narrow belief systems. Spirituality, on the other hand, is free flowing, life-giving, transformative and experiential... or so the stereotypes go.
The truth, I believe, lies somewhere in the middle. At its worst, religion can be constricting and overly rule-bound. It can be overly institutional and life-sapping. At its worst, spirituality can be over individualistic, too much into "me" and reductionist in its history and story-telling. An over-emphasis on spirituality can lead to a lack of emphasis on social justice and peace-making in the world.
I offer these thoughts as one who is a product of the Christian religion. I wear an alb with a stole, a sign of my office in the Church. We in ministry lead congregations that have bylaws and constitutions. Our national Church bylaws are called The Manual. You might suggest that I'm a product of the institution of Christianity and therefore my bias might be for religion.
You might suggest that, but I stand for a balance between religion and spirituality. I believe that religions at their heart, when truly expressed and lived holistically, are deeply spiritual. And on the other side, I believe that spirituality, truly expressed and lived authentically, brings with it a need to gather with others who are like-minded, and therefore becomes religious.
Religion literally means "to bind." Religion is really a gathering of spiritually minded people who choose to be bound together in some form of covenant. We can easily be spiritual people on our own; I can then believe what I want and do what I want regardless of anyone else. Religion, however, believes that we are inherently communal creatures. We are naturally drawn to each other and the hard work of spirituality comes into play when there's conflict between us; it comes into play in the hard reality of trying to be a community, when we bump up against each other and try to plot a common course in the world. The other aspect of religion is the covenant call to be a transformative agent in the world, to cast light into the shadows, to speak of justice in the midst of oppression, to advocate peace when all is war, to be new life when all is about death. I choose to bind myself to spiritually minded folk who want to make a difference in the world, who want to live the life of Christ so that all might know the abundance of God's grace and love. So, I argue for a religion that is deeply spiritual.
Peter Rollins is a young Irish theologian who is making the rounds on speaking tours. He is talking about what it means to be a young Christian in the 21st century, in this day and age when people want to be spiritual but not religious. He regularly tells a parable that was written by Phil Harrison. I dreamt that I died and went to heaven; at the ubiquitous pearly gates, I am greeted by St. Peter, who opens the gates and welcomes me. I was just about to step into heaven when I noticed that some of my friends were there, just outside the gates. Some of them were atheists, some were Buddhists, some were Muslims and goodness knows what else. I said to Peter, "What about my friends." And Peter said back, "Well, you know the rules." In my dream I then thought of Jesus as the outsider, the rebel, the challenger, the disturber, the friend of sinners, the one who would stay with the oppressed, and then said to Peter, "Well then, I'll just stay out here with my friends." The parable ends with St. Peter saying, after breaking into a great smile, "Finally! Someone gets it right!."
Does the story of Jesus cleansing the Temple help us get it right? We tell this story in the season of Lent and then it is repeated in the week before Easter when the story of Jesus' last days in Jerusalem is told. According to John, Jesus made three visits to Jerusalem and on his first, he was so disgusted with what went on in the Temple precincts that he drove out the money changers and the sacrificial animals. Maybe a metaphor for wanting to sweep clean the religion of his day, which like any institution had corruption within it? Maybe a metaphor for sweeping clean the empty rituals of his tradition in the way of prophets before him? Perhaps it is a metaphor for the need for sweeping changes such that widows and orphans and strangers and the poor can have the same access to their religious traditions as everyone else? Or maybe it is a metaphor for sweeping changes that ensures that the infirm, the sick, the suffering, women, children, and men can practice together the way of Torah, the way of justice, and the way of love? Or yet again, maybe this is a metaphor for abundance and the fact that abundance is found in an expansive openness, grace and love?
Greg lent me a book he signed out of the library called Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think. I've just started it, but the one of the opening paragraphs said this in a section entitled "why should you care?" In answer to the question, "Should you care," Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler say this:
The short answer is yes. Our days of isolation are behind us. In today's world, what happens "over there" impacts "over here." Pandemics do not respect borders, terrorist organisations operate on a global scale, and over-population is everyone's problem. What's the best way to solve these issues?... Stable governments are better prepared to stop an infectious disease outbreak before it becomes a global pandemic. And, as a bonus, there is a direct correlation between quality of life and population growth ratesÑas quality increases, birth rates decrease. The point is this: In today's hyperlinked world, solving problems anywhere, solves problems everywhere.(So the idea is we can find a solution to a problem that someone in Nigeria, for example, can use. That's abundance. I'll let you know how the rest of it reads.)
In my heart, I believe that this debate between spirituality and religion is not a useful debate. It is a distraction from sharing God's love with those who are suffering. It is a debate that distracts us from the issue of caring for the planet and all of the planet's creatures. We care because God cares. We love because God loves. We live compassion, because we can do no other. Love, grace and hope are the gifts of life that we can give when we give water, food and freedom. These are spiritual things and religious values.
So be it! Amen.
