it seems that the general consensus from the last immersion goes as follows:
imagery that is inspiring and uplifting and causes one to look towards god is spiritual
imagery that is traditional or features hands bound together by rope (a beautiful last minute addition to the art show...thanks to the artist who chose to remain anonymous) tended to make the group think of religion.
so, there it is: freedom=spiritual; rules=religion. i am not surprised but i am saddened.
not because i--a not overly rule oriented individual--am a leader in the "soul-crushing-rule-factory" that is the religious institution but because i think the views held by most the other night are pretty accurate.
the thing about religion that sucks is that it does seem to communicate the idea that there is only one small path to god and it usually involves a laundry list of "don'ts" instead of a freeing experience of elation and inspiration that raises our eyes to the lord. what happened? when i read scripture that is not the story i read, yet it seems to be the thing we practice most in our worship times together.
we talk about the inclusive nature of god (well, some don't but we do), we talk about god's love of children and we smile at the pictures of jesus with the babies or holding kids on his lap. yet, heaven help the young person that tries to crawl on the communion table! just look at the eyes of the people when a baby is crying during the service. for some you will see compassion and understanding and even the occasional smile, but from my vantage point you see more scowls and silent nods to other grim faced keepers of the quiet as they politely fill the air with enough tension to make the words of the sermon stop abruptly only several feet out of the mouth that just uttered them and descend, unheard and unheeded, to the floor. where does the bible talk about worship needing to be quiet? i understand that worship needs to be reverent and reflective and that can't happen when a child is crying, but let us not forget that a crying child is evidence of a miracle in our midst...that can allow for reflection too.
and i know of what i speak because for the years that m and i couldn't get pregnant the sounds of children could be accutely painful. but not because of the child but only because the miracle had not happened to us yet. however, that pain still drove my eyes and heart to god...pain can be worshipful and some noise can funnel our thoughts to god.
which brings us back to the topic at hand: religious rules.
how did the message of jesus as found in john 3 become so rule-laden? how come the followers of the One who talks about being spirit-led, and then goes on to explain that the spirit is invisible but it's effects can be felt, have become so concerned with the visible? are not rules ways of letting us know who is in and who is out? whether or not we belong? but jesus tells us that we are to be driven by the wind. that we are to be born from above and those sorts of things are impossible to see or to contain with rules!
the christian faith is one of freedom but we have traded that in for a system of regulations...and then when the system becomes too cumbersome and too demanding and not freeing enough we search for the very things that the faith gives us in other places.
we look to angels as symbols of protection...all the time forgetting that the word 'angel' means 'messenger' and they do not do one thing without god telling them. so, people look to angels for spiritual guidance because they think that god is too grumpy or scary not realizing that those angels are acting on god's will.
we look to dreamcatchers to remind us of our need to care for the world, the planet, animals , and all creation...all the while forgetting that all things were made by and through christ and a large part of the christian tradition deals with our need to care for animals and the planet (al gore is jumping on the church band-wagon!)
we talk of love and spirituality as if we were teaching the church when all the while it is the faith that taught us the values of those things in the first place.
it is not the faith that has taken these things from us...it is the religion.
when jesus and nicodemus spoke that night we get to witness religion vs truth. we get to see nicodemus, the rep. of the traditional religion, seeing something in jesus' ministry that is obviously god-driven but uncomprehensible to him. we get to see jesus flabbergasted that this religious teacher does not know anything about the most simple lessons jesus is communicating. in this discussion i think we see what we talked about the other night.
we see god-driven things that defy common conventions of labelling (some inspired by the church) so they become 'suspect'. but we can also see that these things help people and bring them closer to god...so we label them spiritual. thus a kind of spectrum develops with spiritual on one end and religion on the other. but shouldn't religion be the ultimate teacher on all matters spiritual? isn't the point of the rules to keep us safe from fales teachings? are we not supposed to question everything and not give equal value to all teachings? in a word: yup. so, how do we do that withouth becoming rigid and narrow? all the time the answer to the problem is right in front of us in the story of jesus and nicodemus.
the answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind.
it is not the church, or even religion, that saves us...it is the spirit of christ, present in each believer, given by god the father and enacted upon earth in the life of jesus, god the son, and available to all those who call on the name of christ because of the death of jesus upon the cross for the failings of the world.
imagery that is inspiring and uplifting and causes one to look towards god is spiritual
imagery that is traditional or features hands bound together by rope (a beautiful last minute addition to the art show...thanks to the artist who chose to remain anonymous) tended to make the group think of religion.
so, there it is: freedom=spiritual; rules=religion. i am not surprised but i am saddened.
not because i--a not overly rule oriented individual--am a leader in the "soul-crushing-rule-factory" that is the religious institution but because i think the views held by most the other night are pretty accurate.
the thing about religion that sucks is that it does seem to communicate the idea that there is only one small path to god and it usually involves a laundry list of "don'ts" instead of a freeing experience of elation and inspiration that raises our eyes to the lord. what happened? when i read scripture that is not the story i read, yet it seems to be the thing we practice most in our worship times together.
we talk about the inclusive nature of god (well, some don't but we do), we talk about god's love of children and we smile at the pictures of jesus with the babies or holding kids on his lap. yet, heaven help the young person that tries to crawl on the communion table! just look at the eyes of the people when a baby is crying during the service. for some you will see compassion and understanding and even the occasional smile, but from my vantage point you see more scowls and silent nods to other grim faced keepers of the quiet as they politely fill the air with enough tension to make the words of the sermon stop abruptly only several feet out of the mouth that just uttered them and descend, unheard and unheeded, to the floor. where does the bible talk about worship needing to be quiet? i understand that worship needs to be reverent and reflective and that can't happen when a child is crying, but let us not forget that a crying child is evidence of a miracle in our midst...that can allow for reflection too.
and i know of what i speak because for the years that m and i couldn't get pregnant the sounds of children could be accutely painful. but not because of the child but only because the miracle had not happened to us yet. however, that pain still drove my eyes and heart to god...pain can be worshipful and some noise can funnel our thoughts to god.
which brings us back to the topic at hand: religious rules.
how did the message of jesus as found in john 3 become so rule-laden? how come the followers of the One who talks about being spirit-led, and then goes on to explain that the spirit is invisible but it's effects can be felt, have become so concerned with the visible? are not rules ways of letting us know who is in and who is out? whether or not we belong? but jesus tells us that we are to be driven by the wind. that we are to be born from above and those sorts of things are impossible to see or to contain with rules!
the christian faith is one of freedom but we have traded that in for a system of regulations...and then when the system becomes too cumbersome and too demanding and not freeing enough we search for the very things that the faith gives us in other places.
we look to angels as symbols of protection...all the time forgetting that the word 'angel' means 'messenger' and they do not do one thing without god telling them. so, people look to angels for spiritual guidance because they think that god is too grumpy or scary not realizing that those angels are acting on god's will.
we look to dreamcatchers to remind us of our need to care for the world, the planet, animals , and all creation...all the while forgetting that all things were made by and through christ and a large part of the christian tradition deals with our need to care for animals and the planet (al gore is jumping on the church band-wagon!)
we talk of love and spirituality as if we were teaching the church when all the while it is the faith that taught us the values of those things in the first place.
it is not the faith that has taken these things from us...it is the religion.
when jesus and nicodemus spoke that night we get to witness religion vs truth. we get to see nicodemus, the rep. of the traditional religion, seeing something in jesus' ministry that is obviously god-driven but uncomprehensible to him. we get to see jesus flabbergasted that this religious teacher does not know anything about the most simple lessons jesus is communicating. in this discussion i think we see what we talked about the other night.
we see god-driven things that defy common conventions of labelling (some inspired by the church) so they become 'suspect'. but we can also see that these things help people and bring them closer to god...so we label them spiritual. thus a kind of spectrum develops with spiritual on one end and religion on the other. but shouldn't religion be the ultimate teacher on all matters spiritual? isn't the point of the rules to keep us safe from fales teachings? are we not supposed to question everything and not give equal value to all teachings? in a word: yup. so, how do we do that withouth becoming rigid and narrow? all the time the answer to the problem is right in front of us in the story of jesus and nicodemus.
the answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind.
it is not the church, or even religion, that saves us...it is the spirit of christ, present in each believer, given by god the father and enacted upon earth in the life of jesus, god the son, and available to all those who call on the name of christ because of the death of jesus upon the cross for the failings of the world.
"for god so loved the world..."
don't we see? the rules are evidence of our old life when we needed to know, in writing, what god wanted from us. now, instead of being pupils we are called children (and even friends!) and children act (whether they admit it or not) like their parents. sure, we will step out of line but that only brings the death of christ more into focus. sure, the spirit will act differently in all of us but that is only because god is so big and so creative. let us not forget that we are all of One spirit, One faith, One baptism and One god and father of us all and in us all and greater is the One that is in us then all the screwed up crap that is in the world.
"for god so loved the world...."
living by the spirit means a whole-sale rejection of religion and an entire embracing of christ. make no mistake, following rules is easier than following christ. but that is not what we are called to do. we are called to be born from above, we are called to follow the breeze and live in the light. none of those things involve hard and fast rules...save one: we must be willing to let go of where we want to go and walk where the light, or the wind, or the whisper is calling us.
sure, we need to be careful of what voices and influences we listen to. but a life lived following god is its own evidence. and the community of believers is supposed to look out for each other and correct each other if necessary to make sure that not one of us wanders too far off course.
this is confusing and scary but only because it is profoundly simple and utterly refuses to acknowledge the human desire to be in charge. but, then again, it is in thinking that we know it all which causes us, day after day, to walk up to the tree, pick the fruit and take a gigantic bite. and each time we do, death enters into us, and each time death tries to gain that foothold, an empty tomb reminds us that our story is not about death but life, full and eternal. people refuse to honour god with their choices, then they start to reap what they sow, then they blame god for not being loving, then they start to look all over for the thing that they used to have, all the while jesus is still risen, death has still been conquered and god has always been right there, guiding and consoling and doing everything in his divine power to win us back. the thing that is amazing about god is that he does not enforce his will...he acts in our best interest, not his. he does not crush and control, he romances and woos. we are not following a dictator (though make no mistake, he is in charge) we are following a lover and anyone who has ever been in love laughs at the very thought that it can be controlled by rules!
so, let's recap: rules can only bring death because they can only point out what we did (and do) wrong. christ brings life and teaches us that a relationship with god is like walking in the wind: invisible but tangible and able to guide us if we let it. so........let's go sailing!
don't we see? the rules are evidence of our old life when we needed to know, in writing, what god wanted from us. now, instead of being pupils we are called children (and even friends!) and children act (whether they admit it or not) like their parents. sure, we will step out of line but that only brings the death of christ more into focus. sure, the spirit will act differently in all of us but that is only because god is so big and so creative. let us not forget that we are all of One spirit, One faith, One baptism and One god and father of us all and in us all and greater is the One that is in us then all the screwed up crap that is in the world.
"for god so loved the world...."
living by the spirit means a whole-sale rejection of religion and an entire embracing of christ. make no mistake, following rules is easier than following christ. but that is not what we are called to do. we are called to be born from above, we are called to follow the breeze and live in the light. none of those things involve hard and fast rules...save one: we must be willing to let go of where we want to go and walk where the light, or the wind, or the whisper is calling us.
sure, we need to be careful of what voices and influences we listen to. but a life lived following god is its own evidence. and the community of believers is supposed to look out for each other and correct each other if necessary to make sure that not one of us wanders too far off course.
this is confusing and scary but only because it is profoundly simple and utterly refuses to acknowledge the human desire to be in charge. but, then again, it is in thinking that we know it all which causes us, day after day, to walk up to the tree, pick the fruit and take a gigantic bite. and each time we do, death enters into us, and each time death tries to gain that foothold, an empty tomb reminds us that our story is not about death but life, full and eternal. people refuse to honour god with their choices, then they start to reap what they sow, then they blame god for not being loving, then they start to look all over for the thing that they used to have, all the while jesus is still risen, death has still been conquered and god has always been right there, guiding and consoling and doing everything in his divine power to win us back. the thing that is amazing about god is that he does not enforce his will...he acts in our best interest, not his. he does not crush and control, he romances and woos. we are not following a dictator (though make no mistake, he is in charge) we are following a lover and anyone who has ever been in love laughs at the very thought that it can be controlled by rules!
so, let's recap: rules can only bring death because they can only point out what we did (and do) wrong. christ brings life and teaches us that a relationship with god is like walking in the wind: invisible but tangible and able to guide us if we let it. so........let's go sailing!
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