Spirituality is...A Builder

"The religious leaders say that God desires a world that is pure and empty of sin, like a desert. They talk like a man's role isn't ever to be a builder, but always only an insanely jealous protector."
                 Aaron and Ahmed, by Jay Cantor

What's the difference between a mob and a community?  They are both groups of people with like-minded thinking, a specific purpose, a call to action, and committed followers. They are both groups of people who will sacrifice for what they believe in. They are both groups of people who want to change the world around them.  So what makes one group a terrorist cell, and another group a church?

The difference comes from the purpose and the product of the group at hand:

A mob is usually created out of powerlessness.  Powerlessness makes people sad or afraid; sad or fearful people became angry protective people; angry, protective people grouped together become a mob. The currency of a mob is force, and the product it buys is oppression.

Communities are created out of empowerment.  People who believe they are called to a purpose or idea become happy or secure people, which makes them a committed, focused people. The currency of a community is togetherness, and the product it buys is change.

Communities seek justice;  Mobs want vengeance
Communities try to listen; Mobs tend to shout
Communities want to heal; Mobs want to punish.
Communities tend to build; Mobs are desperate to protect


In faith life we have seen some of both groups through our history.  The communities of Iona and Skye sought to build a place of contemplation and spirit. The mobs of crusaders sought to punish those they considered "infidel" and protect their lands from diversity of faith.  The community of Taize seeks to build a type of peace through through prayer, song and inclusion. The mob of many churches seeks to protect their traditions through politics, dogma and exclusivity.  Over and over we realize - having a cross on your building, your car or your necklace doesn't show us whether you are part of a community or a mob. Only your actions can do that.

I don't think they are here for a bake sale.

Spirituality is a builder. Spirituality is the part of us that takes risks and recognizes that the space between us as people doesn't need a guard gate as much as a bridge. Spirituality values traditions but also seeks to reach out through them to new people in a new way.  Spirituality is the building, hopeful part of who we are as beings.

In Acts 28, the Apostle Paul has just gone through a time of trial and terror. Tossed by a storm, starved and shipwrecked he and the survivors wind up on the coast of Malta. What's the first thing the people of Malta do? Run find some arrows or weapons?  Draw a line in the sand and prohibit the castaways from going further until they have a chance to question them? No - the first thing they do is build a fire because the survivors are wet and cold. Spirituality builds.

Spirituality doesn't build unwisely. It takes effort to build something. You have to know the design and how to build, make sure you have the proper tools and proceed with care as well as hope. Spiritual people have all come in contact with someone whose goal is to knock down your construction or use your good nature for their own harmful purposes. Construction workers who reach in peace get burned many times. Yet, still, we build.

As you encounter new people, old people, new ideas, old prejudices or anything in between - remember to listen and pray and not just look for things that offend you or you might need to defend against - but look for the tools, materials and pathways to build something new, warm, or good.

Spirituality is...Just a Vehicle

The warm water beads as it runs down the curves
Of the beautiful surface so tan
She's polishing the Jaguar again

Hasn't run in a year or two
Nice car but the wheels don't move, anymore
Maybe she remembers
Maybe something's got her scared
It's too precious to be careless
And it's finally been repaired

So you never see her drive it
She won't risk it any more
It's too easy to collide it
And it hurt so much before

Could it be
That it's really just a vehicle
Standing like a statue all this time
Could it be
Its just a vehicle
She shines
"Just a Vehicle" by David Wilcox

One of the reasons we have trouble pinning down what spirituality is probably has to do with our tendency to use that word as a noun, which the dictionary affirms is rightfully done. However, when we transition our understanding not to the letter of the law but the spirit - the word suffers in its proper form.  You remember nouns - "person, place or thing."  Starting with that perception and marinated in America's consumerist, personality obsessed culture, spirituality can morph into something as useless as beautifully waxed sports car that sits in the window on display.

Where will I put the groceries?

 Spirituality is not a thing we can own like so many gadgets, machines or paintings.  We can't buy and we certainly can't sell it - even at the Christian Book Store.  Spirituality is not a person. We can find evidence of it in the behavior of people - Mother Theresa, Ghandi, The Dalai Lama, or Mrs. Wallace from our Sunday School class, - but no one human being is spirituality incarnate. We should never get so caught up in the star-culture (cult-ure?) that we get confused and lose our way.  Spirituality is not a place we arrive, but a method for getting somewhere.

While I hate to argue with the good people at Dictionary.com, spirituality in its purest and best form is a verb. It is an active, moving vehicle made to take us to our destination.  Every person has a different idea of where they want the car to go.  Some folks just want it to take them to a happy day, or drive them out of a valley of sorrow or a late night abandoned street called "Fear."  Others want to travel to realms they have never seen before - beautiful places like "Peace" or busy intersections like the corner of "Need" and "Community".  Still others want it to drive them all the way to Heaven, sometimes without leaving earth.

Our lives as spiritual people is often a search for the key that makes this car go and sadly most have a key in their own pocket, having picked it up long ago.  Just like there is more that one type of car - there is more than one key that can put the vehicle in gear. Some of the best keys are prayer, peace, reflection, giving, listening, opening. forgiveness and, of course, the master key that can start every car - love.  And once you start the car - you must drive it.

It's a risk, you know. You could run out of gas if you start out on a long journey of faith without enough fuel and provisions. You could get lost and need to find somewhere to stop and get directions (and, you would be willing to have to ask for them!).  In a world so full of doctrines, traditions and interpretations - you might even crash your car into someone's parked ideas.  Through the spiritual journey - some cars start out shiny and new, but end up looking like this:

Well, I don't have to worry about those window dings anymore.

When that happens, the amazing love of God, and the spirituality found in the love of others will drive you where you need to go until the frame can be healed, the metal melted and re-formed and the tires changed. Then, as the repairs are complete, your task is to get behind the wheel anew- and keep going.

Spirituality isn't something we have to be admired or gain status. Its a functioning vehicle of heart, mind and soul designed to take us, and sometimes passengers we pick up along the way, to all the places God would have us go.

Spirituality is....Eschewing Obfuscation

Detective Spooner: So, Dr. Calvin, what exactly do you do around here?
Dr. Calvin: I specialize in hardware-to-wetware interfaces in an effort to advance U.S.R.'s robotic ahthropomorphization program.
Detective Spooner: So, what exactly do you do around here?
Dr. Calvin: I make the robots seem more human.
Detective Spooner: Now wasn't that easier to say?
Dr. Calvin: Not really. No.
                                  Dialogue from the film "I-Robot"

One of my favorite T-shirts in a catalog for writers I receive says, "Eschew Obfuscation".  Its a funny way of illustrating that saying something simply is better than puffing it up with big words that don't matter, or hiding the truth behind a bunch of complex nonsense.  Or as my Mamaw would say, "Don't take the long way 'round the barn."

We got a very good look at obfuscation this week when Congressman Jon Kyl said 90% of what Planned Parenthood does are abortions. Confronted with the fact that was completely incorrect (its more like 3%) his office released the following statement, "His remark was not intended to be a factual statement,...".  What?  I don't know where he grew up - but where I grew up, "Not intending to give a factual statement" means - you're telling a lie and you know it.

Why do people "obfuscate"?  Lots of reasons.  It limits confrontation because people are too confused to know how to argue, it is supposed to make the speaker appear more intelligent or the idea more complicated than it really is, or it just (supposedly) makes things seem more valuable. Whatever the reason, the basic cause is the same:  need.   People who make things harder than they have to be or hide behind complex language and murky ideas have some need - the need to be admired, the need for validation, the need for authority, the need to pass the blame.

Spirituality is the opposite of this practice.  Spirituality is not need based - it is abundance based. Spirituality is the part of us that recognizes that God meets our needs, and our relationships with others are to be based on security and love, not fear and manipulation.  Spiritual people don't require larger words than necessary, or decide to place truth outside of the realm common people can understand. Jesus addresses this understanding in his famous teaching about prayer.

"When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
This is how you should pray:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one."
Matthew 6:6-13

When you look at verse 6 in the King James Version it reads, "Go into your closet and pray." The first time I encountered that my immediate thought was, "Jesus has obviously never seen my closet!"
My closet is full of unplayed games, dirty gym socks that managed to evade the laundry basket, boxed Christmas decorations, photo albums and clothes so old I couldn’t fit into them with a crowbar. I don’t have time to clean my closet, let alone pray in it.

Maybe I should pray to be neater...

What Jesus is saying, of course, is that prayers aren't for public approval or affirming self-righteousness - they are a time of communion between you and your creator and deserve respect, focus and honesty.  The sample prayer Jesus uses as a teaching tool has been studied and recited for centuries. However - in learning about it - some good old obfuscation has appeared.

When trying to give us better understanding of it most preachers and teachers use the acronym ACTS.

Adoration
Confession
Thanksgiving
Supplication

The problem with the ACTS model is the words. They are big fifty-cent words. Stained glass words. Words from an air-conditioned, padded-pew, everyone-in-a-dress church setting. But what about the everyday? What about the day you are standing by the side of the road waiting for a tow truck to haul your car back to the garage that was supposed to have fixed it correctly the first time? Is "Adoration" really the word you are thinking as the sun beats down on you? Probably not. While you are silently asking God to help the tow truck arrive before a psycho-killer notices your predicament, would you call that your supplication? It’s doubtful.
Maybe there are some better words:

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,"

KNOW - Know that the creator of the universe is holy, and loves you.

"your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

REMEMBER - Remember that God is in charge and has desires for what happens on earth that it should become more heavenly.

"Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors."

ACCEPT - Accept and Acknowledge what God gives to you.

"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."

ASK - Ask for God’s help, guidance and assurance.

Know, Remember, Accept, Ask: Everyday words for an all-day-long God. This model probably won’t become very popular because it doesn’t spell anything catchy. That’s okay, because when you are standing on the freeway choking down the dust as the tow truck pulls up and you feel the cool breeze of blessed relief, those are the words you’ll be thinking about.

The first hallmark of spirituality is its honesty.  No matter where or how you spend time in communion with God - be clear, sincere and open.  Spirituality doesn't have to "sound good" - it simply has to seek what is good.

Spirituality is...The Positive Opposite

 "You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!"
           Reese's Commercial

“I’m spiritual but not religious.”

In a frenzy of twisted logic, this phrase has moved from catchy to cliché to a standard response in popular culture. Think about how easily it rolls off the tongue – like any of the other auto-responses we have in our cultural competency.

How are you?   I’m fine.
How’s your mom?   She’s good.
What do you believe?   I’m spiritual but not religious.

The great irony is that as this phrase has been repeated over time it has become the very thing it wants to repel. It is a recurring tradition trying to communicate the idea the speaker is not traditional.  Like many populist assertions, it loses more meaning every time someone says it.

Part of the problem is that “I’m spiritual but not religious” is a completely backwards communication technique.  People who say this aren’t telling you what they believe. They are telling you what they don’t believe.  It shares nothing of who they are and serves as a mere signpost of who they are not.  They are saying:

They are not church people.
They are not opposed to science.
They are not bigots.
They are not Bible thumpers.
They are not gay haters.
They are not judgmental prudes.
They are not closed minded.
They are not brainwashed.
They are NOT RELIGIOUS.

This phrase isn’t a state of being or belief at all. It’s a protest against everything the speaker has seen and deemed unseemly, unholy and unfaithful in the faith.  It’s a T-shirt with an arrow on the front that says, “I’m not with THEM.”

It is easy to see how one would want to set the record straight about belonging with a group like the one those sentences describe. I don’t want to be them. You don’t want to be them.  Heck, even some of the people who are them don’t want to be them. And yet, still “they” exist.

Unfortunately, when we spend so much energy defining who we are not, it doesn’t bring us any closer to who we are. We need a word to take those phrases and convey the positive opposite. A word that says:

I am part of a community.
I recognize evidence of the system this world is built on.
I accept people as they are.
I read the Bible so you can see it through me, not hear about it.
I love and I believe God loves all people.
I don’t judge others.
I am open minded.
I am assertive and unique.
I am spiritual, disciplined, and faithful.

Where can we find such a word?  How about – “city on a hill?”  How about “salt of the earth?”  How about “child of God?”  When our spirituality is noted, but our religion denied, what we are really doing is conveying the simple truth that we don’t believe in the crusades, the political gospel, or the social oppression of rights in Jesus' name. We are conveying that we think the “religious” establishment brings those things to the table, and we want none of it.  But, we are also saying we are shapeless, lacking in clarity, and blowing in the wind. That lack of foundation and definition is neither holy, nor healthy.

Spirituality and religion are like love and marriage. You can have either one independently, but everything is so much better when the two are together.

To have a whole faith, to be all that we are in God on earth and in heaven, we must reconcile the two halves of faith life and find a way to be religious and spiritual once again.  Like the old Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup commercials – we need to find a way to get religion in our spirituality and spirituality in our religion.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups - definitely spiritual

 

To get spirituality in your religion – you gotta live what you believe and believe what you live.

So when we bring our battling couple, spirituality and religion, into the room of our heart and ask them to stay together, how do we keep them enmeshed?  Living what we believe is a matter of conscious action and choices. Believing what we live is a matter of mental/emotional action and commitment. Holding those two realities in a symbiotic relationship is a matter of faith.

We tend to think incorrectly about faith. We hold onto the idea that to “keep the faith” is to make sure everything stays the same. We believe what our parents taught us which their parents taught them which was handed down through generations. But it doesn’t really work that way – even in genealogy. Preachers, teachers, time, experience and inspiration all put their marks on the faith as it is handed from one to another. That’s the natural way of it. After all, people evolve – why shouldn’t faith evolve? Faith is not about “never changing yourself.” Faith is about “never giving up on God.”   Faith is not about following the old never-changing way. Faith is about following God’s way.

We tend to talk about faith like we have anything to do with it – we say things like “I have faith it will work out” and “My faith life is vibrant” – but faith doesn’t start with us (and we really shouldn’t take much credit) – faith starts with God.

A few years ago, I required surgery and was referred to a local surgeon. I met him once, for about twenty minutes, and two weeks later I trusted him to cut my neck open and remove my thyroid. I didn’t trust my surgeon because I just happen trust everyone with a scalpel (in fact, I fear sharp objects and men who wield them). I trusted him because I knew his credentials were checked out by the state of Virginia, my insurance company, and the hospital privileges department. He has years of experience performing this operation.  I had faith in him because his record justified that faith. I didn’t do all that work. He did. I just walked in the office believing.

Faith in God is the same way. We have faith in God because God has done the work of creating us, relating to us, saving us, loving us, teaching us and connecting us to God and one another. We have faith in God because God has been there. God has done all the work. We just walk through our world believing, and acting on that belief.

So when our pain at the hands of church makes us want to dump religion, or when the questions and complexities of what we believe make us desire to jettison spirituality out the window and drive down life’s highway on auto-pilot, we need to stop. Then we need to examine how we live and what we believe about it, and have faith.

Peanut butter and chocolate, love and marriage, spirituality and religion are all destined to be together. The more we heal and create pathways for that reconciliation the better we can rid our world of that silly catch-phrase.   Then we can say:

I’m spiritually religious.
Or
I’m religiously spiritual
Or better yet….

I believe.