Saturday 17 March 2018
Spirituality: Part Three
Church is often the most dangerous place to be spiritually honest'. This was a quote I read recently in a great little book by Peter Enns. And he makes a great point. How often have we sat in church and heard something said from the front, or even read from the Bible, which has really raised our hackles? In saying this, I don't of course mean the challenge to forgive more or to love the unlovely, those things are hard but they are essential to the message of Jesus. I tend to believe that Jesus might just know what He's talking about.
What I mean are those parts of the Bible that make us wonder what's going on in the authors mind when they're writing that piece. Like grown men being swallowed by big fish and being bussed to distant shores. Jonah was possibly the first eco-traveller to use a water taxi. And things about flaming chariots carrying preachers up to heaven, although we've often wished during a long sermon that some miracle would remove the preacher so that we can get home for dinner. There's a fine line between a long sermon and a hostage situation.
These are the sort of tall tales that if we heard someone on the bus saying them then we'd probably make sure to find another seat and try to not get off at the same stop. But because they're in the Bible, we don't give them a second thought. And while it's one thing to accept the stories of old, what about some of the opinions we find in the Bible? Again, please try to imagine this as the ramblings of a random person on the bus or, and this works quite well, a politician on Question Time.
'Women should be silent and don't have the right to speak'. 'Slaves should be beaten but not to death'. 'The children of our enemies should be put to death'. Can you imagine the hue and cry if any of those things were on the next election manifesto. And yet we find them all in the Bible, and in our churches. And maybe those ideas don't sit well with us any more. But what do we do with them? These are found in the same Bible which tells us to love our neighbours and forgive our enemies. The Bible is a very confusing place. It's also the main guide for our spirituality.
I don't want any of you running to the hills (I'm assuming you're scared of catching the bus since this is where you meet crazy people and politicians), instead, I offer this advice to grow spiritually. Try to describe how these phrases make you feel, and try to explain why. I know that being spiritually honest in church can be dangerous, but there's nothing stopping you from being honest with yourself. I find it helpful to keep a journal, a book of my thoughts on these passages. I write down how I feel and why I think I feel that way.
And the next time we meet, I think I'll share with you a little of that process, and maybe a little honesty will go a long way.
What I mean are those parts of the Bible that make us wonder what's going on in the authors mind when they're writing that piece. Like grown men being swallowed by big fish and being bussed to distant shores. Jonah was possibly the first eco-traveller to use a water taxi. And things about flaming chariots carrying preachers up to heaven, although we've often wished during a long sermon that some miracle would remove the preacher so that we can get home for dinner. There's a fine line between a long sermon and a hostage situation.
These are the sort of tall tales that if we heard someone on the bus saying them then we'd probably make sure to find another seat and try to not get off at the same stop. But because they're in the Bible, we don't give them a second thought. And while it's one thing to accept the stories of old, what about some of the opinions we find in the Bible? Again, please try to imagine this as the ramblings of a random person on the bus or, and this works quite well, a politician on Question Time.
'Women should be silent and don't have the right to speak'. 'Slaves should be beaten but not to death'. 'The children of our enemies should be put to death'. Can you imagine the hue and cry if any of those things were on the next election manifesto. And yet we find them all in the Bible, and in our churches. And maybe those ideas don't sit well with us any more. But what do we do with them? These are found in the same Bible which tells us to love our neighbours and forgive our enemies. The Bible is a very confusing place. It's also the main guide for our spirituality.
I don't want any of you running to the hills (I'm assuming you're scared of catching the bus since this is where you meet crazy people and politicians), instead, I offer this advice to grow spiritually. Try to describe how these phrases make you feel, and try to explain why. I know that being spiritually honest in church can be dangerous, but there's nothing stopping you from being honest with yourself. I find it helpful to keep a journal, a book of my thoughts on these passages. I write down how I feel and why I think I feel that way.
And the next time we meet, I think I'll share with you a little of that process, and maybe a little honesty will go a long way.
Spirituality: Part Two
Last time we discussed how Spirituality was what happens when teaching meets experience, and that offers a huge variety. My experiences will definitely be different from yours, and yours from the next person. And yet so often we try understand spirituality as a linear progression. We say that so-and-so is a spiritual person, but we sometimes miss the great variety of spirituality that out there.
Maybe a better question to ask, rather than what is spirituality, is what are spiritualities?
I've met people who are wonderfully patient with the follies of others, but lack the wisdom to listen to advice. I've met people who have a wonderful spirit of discernment but struggle with forgiveness. The list goes on. And yet we still think of spirituality as a motorway, that some people are just further ahead than we are. Or, more dangerously, that we are more spiritual than others.
I've taken in recent years to rethinking this. Stop thinking of spirituality as a motorway and start thinking of it more as a cul de sac. Once you've had a spiritual awakening, and most everyone has, there's not really anywhere else to go forward. Instead we start to grow sideways, and deeper.
Think of each house in this cul de sac as a different type of spirituality. The nice lady at number 50 might be a great listener and can teach us a lot about being attentive to the needs of others, or mercy in spiritual terms. She also makes great cakes so some of us might like stopping there for a while. Old Mr Jones at number 73 drones on and on about all his woes and how he wants us to do right for him, or social justice. He doesn't have great cake so maybe we don't stay there as much. Then in number 26 we've got the very smart, incredibly attractive, silver fox pastor who is ever so charming and writes insightful pieces on spirituality. Unfortunately no one ever visits him so he just sits in his library learning stuff and preparing articles for magazines. Please visit me some time.
As we journey and settle with our various neighbours in our spiritual cul de sac, we might find ourselves displaying a little more of their character. The frequent visitor to the prayerful house will find themselves enjoying prayer that much more. Those who spend time with the neighbour with a spirit of discipleship will find a deeper appreciation of spending time in learning and challenging themselves with new ideas.
Our spiritual neighbours each enrich our lives in different ways. While it would be nice to say that someone is 'spiritual', we need ask in which way are they spiritual. And that's when we can begin to look at ourselves.
We'll soon be looking at ourselves an awful let. If you're a handsome fellow like myself then obviously this won't be an issue, indeed it will be a pleasure. But we don't always like what we see in the mirror, so next time we'll start to look at those grey hairs or our double chin that maybe we'd cover with a bit of make-up. So please don't judge yourself less spiritual than others, you may be the neighbour they need to spend time with to deepen a part of themselves that might be lacking.
Maybe a better question to ask, rather than what is spirituality, is what are spiritualities?
I've met people who are wonderfully patient with the follies of others, but lack the wisdom to listen to advice. I've met people who have a wonderful spirit of discernment but struggle with forgiveness. The list goes on. And yet we still think of spirituality as a motorway, that some people are just further ahead than we are. Or, more dangerously, that we are more spiritual than others.
I've taken in recent years to rethinking this. Stop thinking of spirituality as a motorway and start thinking of it more as a cul de sac. Once you've had a spiritual awakening, and most everyone has, there's not really anywhere else to go forward. Instead we start to grow sideways, and deeper.
Think of each house in this cul de sac as a different type of spirituality. The nice lady at number 50 might be a great listener and can teach us a lot about being attentive to the needs of others, or mercy in spiritual terms. She also makes great cakes so some of us might like stopping there for a while. Old Mr Jones at number 73 drones on and on about all his woes and how he wants us to do right for him, or social justice. He doesn't have great cake so maybe we don't stay there as much. Then in number 26 we've got the very smart, incredibly attractive, silver fox pastor who is ever so charming and writes insightful pieces on spirituality. Unfortunately no one ever visits him so he just sits in his library learning stuff and preparing articles for magazines. Please visit me some time.
As we journey and settle with our various neighbours in our spiritual cul de sac, we might find ourselves displaying a little more of their character. The frequent visitor to the prayerful house will find themselves enjoying prayer that much more. Those who spend time with the neighbour with a spirit of discipleship will find a deeper appreciation of spending time in learning and challenging themselves with new ideas.
Our spiritual neighbours each enrich our lives in different ways. While it would be nice to say that someone is 'spiritual', we need ask in which way are they spiritual. And that's when we can begin to look at ourselves.
We'll soon be looking at ourselves an awful let. If you're a handsome fellow like myself then obviously this won't be an issue, indeed it will be a pleasure. But we don't always like what we see in the mirror, so next time we'll start to look at those grey hairs or our double chin that maybe we'd cover with a bit of make-up. So please don't judge yourself less spiritual than others, you may be the neighbour they need to spend time with to deepen a part of themselves that might be lacking.
Spirituality: Part One
I was on the radio recently and the subject this time was spirituality and how to develop spirituality. It's an interesting subject, and one which isn't easy to pin down. Especially when we consider the bigger question: What is spirituality?
It's that strange, gooey feeling we get sometimes. To give it some big impressive sounding words we could even call it an esoteric matter. Some people would use it to describe how they feel about God, or what happens during prayer. Some form of knowledge of something other than ourselves. For those who have recently been to the cinema and watched the Star Wars revival on the big screen, maybe we'd liken spirituality to the Force. Alas after many years of prayer and seeking God, I still can't move large boulders with my mind.
Maybe it's like love. It's something you can never explain, it's something you have to experience. How exactly do you know that you're in love? Can we ever truly know that we are loved? Maybe all love is is a state of deep trust that the bond between us exists. But anyone who has ever been in love will know with a concrete certainty that love exists, even if they can't put their finger on it exactly. Love is out there, and so is spirituality. So how do we go about nurturing it?
One of the best descriptions I've ever heard on nurturing and progressing spirituality is that it's what happens when teaching meets experience. We go through our whole lives with a set of principles and teachings, the things which build us and make us who we are, and then one day something happens which causes us to stop and question these key beliefs. Maybe it's the loss of a loved which shifts our stability, or maybe it's finding friendship and support from an unexpected place. These shifts in expectation cause a pivot point in our lives. They make us as questions which are maybe painful and might even make us have to change our views on some things. Sometimes they solidify and edify our existing stance. But all of these little pivots, each of these small interruptions on our road of life, they too build us up in the same way that our initial teaching did.
And this is something that I love to explore with my church and small groups. I'll often forego a Sunday sermon and instead read a newspaper article with my church and ask one of the hardest questions of all time: What would Jesus say were He reading this? This brings us away from the abstract questions what we often avoid when we stick to our rigid traditional teachings. I'm sure that not many of you have coveted your neighbours oxen or manservant. If you have then lucky neighbour. But when we ask how Jesus might vote on the fox hunting ban, or if Jesus would say something about budget cuts to the poorest communities, well that's something wholly different.
Those are the times when when our teaching encounters something we might not have considered before, where teaching meets experience. And that's the start of developing spirituality. And hopefully we'll take our own journey together on this subject soon.
It's that strange, gooey feeling we get sometimes. To give it some big impressive sounding words we could even call it an esoteric matter. Some people would use it to describe how they feel about God, or what happens during prayer. Some form of knowledge of something other than ourselves. For those who have recently been to the cinema and watched the Star Wars revival on the big screen, maybe we'd liken spirituality to the Force. Alas after many years of prayer and seeking God, I still can't move large boulders with my mind.
Maybe it's like love. It's something you can never explain, it's something you have to experience. How exactly do you know that you're in love? Can we ever truly know that we are loved? Maybe all love is is a state of deep trust that the bond between us exists. But anyone who has ever been in love will know with a concrete certainty that love exists, even if they can't put their finger on it exactly. Love is out there, and so is spirituality. So how do we go about nurturing it?
One of the best descriptions I've ever heard on nurturing and progressing spirituality is that it's what happens when teaching meets experience. We go through our whole lives with a set of principles and teachings, the things which build us and make us who we are, and then one day something happens which causes us to stop and question these key beliefs. Maybe it's the loss of a loved which shifts our stability, or maybe it's finding friendship and support from an unexpected place. These shifts in expectation cause a pivot point in our lives. They make us as questions which are maybe painful and might even make us have to change our views on some things. Sometimes they solidify and edify our existing stance. But all of these little pivots, each of these small interruptions on our road of life, they too build us up in the same way that our initial teaching did.
And this is something that I love to explore with my church and small groups. I'll often forego a Sunday sermon and instead read a newspaper article with my church and ask one of the hardest questions of all time: What would Jesus say were He reading this? This brings us away from the abstract questions what we often avoid when we stick to our rigid traditional teachings. I'm sure that not many of you have coveted your neighbours oxen or manservant. If you have then lucky neighbour. But when we ask how Jesus might vote on the fox hunting ban, or if Jesus would say something about budget cuts to the poorest communities, well that's something wholly different.
Those are the times when when our teaching encounters something we might not have considered before, where teaching meets experience. And that's the start of developing spirituality. And hopefully we'll take our own journey together on this subject soon.
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