First Parish Church-Wintle Sermon Spiritual but Not Religious?

“SPIRITUAL,” BUT NOT “RELIGIOUS”?

A sermon delivered by The Rev. Dr. Thomas D. Wintle

at The First Parish Church in Weston, Massachusetts, on May 4, 2008.

The scripture lessons were Isaiah 11:1-5 and Galatians 5:13-26.

“The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord . . . Not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearsay shall he decide, But he shall judge the poor with justice” (Isaiah 11:2, 3b, 4a)

It has taken me awhile to appreciate the good intentions behind the words. Perhaps you’ve heard them or even said them yourself. It’s when someone says, often to a clergyperson, “I am (or my spouse is) very spiritual, but not religious.” By this I take them to mean they are interested in spirituality, but are not involved in any religious institution.

Now, as one whose whole professional career has been devoted to encouraging people to be both spiritual and religious, the comment first seemed to me to be, at best, a justification for not going to church, and at worst, a subtle put-down of those who value the religious commitments of participating in the institutional church.

But I’m coming to understand “spiritual but not religious” in a different way, a more appreciative way. I think it can describe the journey of faith of those who, while they have not yet made any institutional commitments, they have not joined a church or synagogue or ashram, or any other religious community which might seek to hold them accountable, or indeed to ASK anything of them . . . are yet drawn to, and intrigued by, those great spiritual questions about the meaning of life: why are we here? what is our destiny? what gives us the strength to carry on in the midst of personal tragedy? what makes life worth living, and wonderful? what gives us peace and confidence in our daily lives? (You know the questions).

This morning, I want to talk about having a spiritual life when you are not especially religious, and even when you are not yet sure what you think about GOD. Even an atheist can have a spiritual life. Next week, I want to talk about encountering the Holy Spirit, and my tentative sermon title (for Mothers’ Day and Pentecost) is: “The Holy Spirit is Kinda Like Your Mom”).

So the real question this morning is: how do you develop, and nurture, your spiritual life? I want to propose three ways.

First, look within. I have been teaching “Writing Your Spiritual Autobiography” classes for almost 20 years. In almost every class, there are some who doubt they have a spiritual autobiography; and in almost every case, they are surprised to discover they have had spiritual experiences of depth and power. The goal of the class is to help us identify those events that have shaped who we are, taught us, inspired us, given us comfort and peace, challenged us to persevere through difficult times. We use a series of exercises to help us remember the shaping events. The first is quite simple: draw a floor plan of the house in which you grew up: rooms, doors, furniture, toys, perhaps the yard or some of the neighborhood: roads to school, friend’s houses, library, church. Be aware of what feelings are associated with the rooms? What is hard to remember? What is easy? You would be amazed how much comes back to you as we go through a series of such exercises.

Look within. Take the spiritual autobiography course!

Second, find a practice. You simply cannot nurture a spiritual life without finding some spiritual discipline, some spiritual practice that you use to develop those “spiritual inclinations,” those spiritual muscles. That’s why your ministerial staff decided to teach a new spiritual practice every month . . . the body prayer in March, lectio divina in April, and soon, chanting.

You need to find one that works for you. I was at a conference this past week where one of the presenters spoke about participating in a sauna as a spiritual practice. She spoke about going to a sauna as an 8-year-old with her Finnish mother and grandmother. As she watched the ladle being dipped in the water, she wondered ‘how many generations have done this?’ When her mother decided she was hot enough, she took her hand and led her to the lake. And there in the very cold lake, she found she could let go of her tensions. The speaker said that she would be visiting her 87-year-old mother in Finland this summer, and looked forward to the sauna experience as a way of letting-go of tensions. Imagine, letting-go of all frustrations, letting them dissipate into the lake?

The idea of a spiritual practice is that, by regular use, daily use, it becomes second nature to us, we can slide into it even in times of stress.

Third, find some spirited ones. You need to have the support of people who already know the spirit. Don’t just look within the church. Where can you find them? This may surprise you. When my wife, Suzanne, was the Massachusetts Teacher of the Year in 2006, one of the honors was to be introduced at a Boston Celtics game as a “hero among us.” I don’t know how many of you attend Boston athletic events, but I have to tell you that there are people there who cheer you on, with standing ovations and pats on the back. How often do you get that? That’s one meaning of “spirited” – think about this: there are people who cheer you on . . . and there are people who weigh you down. Which are you? When people cheer you on, what do they say? – “That’s the spirit!”

On December 7, 1967, Captain Angelo (Charlie) Liteky, a Roman Catholic Army chaplain in Vietnam, carried some 20 wounded soldiers to a landing zone for evacuation. He was under heavy fire, and was himself wounded in the neck and foot. For his heroism, he received the Congressional Medal of Honor. “That’s the spirit.” And that’s not the end. In 1986, in a brief ceremony at the Capitol, he returned his medal, as a statement in opposition to American policy in support of the contras in Nicaragua. “Conscience calls me,” he said, “to renounce the Congressional Medal of Honor for the same basic reason I received it – trying to save lives.” That too is the spirit. [Coffin, 10-26-86]

I will give you yet another example of one who I find “spirited.” Our ministerial intern this year and next – Kelly Cummins, a student at Boston University School of Theology – is being sworn-in this afternoon at 2 o’clock, as a second lieutenant in the Army National Guard, as a chaplain candidate. This means she could, eventually, be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan with any of our nation’s commitments. She is committed to ministry and to our armed forces in a time when they are going “in harm’s way.” That’s the spirit.

Heroes among us. All around us. Even in this room. The spirited ones, I suggest, are all those who show the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

III

So there you are: look within, and find the deep wells that have nurtured you, protected you, inspired you; second, find a practice: you will not grow spiritually if you do not work at it, if you do not find a “discipline” that you force yourself to do; and third, find the spirited ones who can inspire you.

So, at the end, is there any reason to be “religious,” to find some institutional expression for your spiritual interests? Only, I suppose, if you do not like to be alone. To be religious is to make yourself an ally of some institutional religious community, to say this is good and I want to support it. I may not agree with everything they say, but they are doing good works and I can grow here. To be religious is to stand within a tradition, a heritage, that we both receive and with which we struggle.

And here is yet another argument for religious commitment: religious communities ASK something of you, they are prophetic and expect you to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. The “religious” person is willing to respond to the invitation to DO, to be committed, to support. The “spiritual but not religious” person is on his or her own, “don’t count on me.” That’s a big difference.

So what, my friends, is my advice for those who would be “spiritual but not religious”?

Just this: be open to something new! Allow for the possibility that being religious could help you be more spiritual. Go to church!