My Dear SBNR Friend,
I am fairly confident there are not many Sunday mornings you wake up and wonder whether you might go to church. Participation in any formal institutional expression of religion simply never crosses your mind.
But your absence from church (synagogue, temple, or mosque) is a question I ponder frequently.
You see, I think about you a lot. You pose quite a puzzle in my life.
I know you are a person of deep spirituality. You are not content to live on the surface of life. You understand that material well-being, comfort, affluence, and success by themselves are not adequate for a fully satisfying existence. You have a powerful awareness of the profoundly mysterious nature of life. You experience the beauty and wonder of living as a small speck in the vast mystery of the cosmos in which we dwell. You honour creation and strive to live gently on this earth.
You are a kind, good, compassionate, generous person. You would never intentionally hurt anyone or damage this island home we share. You are an ethical person whose life is shaped by many of the same values by which I try to live my life. You care about the well-being of the human community.
You take your spiritual life seriously. You have a spiritual practice that you follow with at least as much commitment and discipline as I have ever exercised my spiritual practice. You read spiritual books, listen to spiritual teachings, and occasionally travel great distances in an attempt to deepen your spiritual life.
I hope you understand that I admire your spiritual journey greatly and in no way want to suggest it is in any way inferior to mine.
Your spiritual life is not a hobby. It is central to who you are and a fundamental part of your identity. It shapes the way you see the world and forms the daily choices you make in every aspect of your life.
And yet… it would not occur to you to seek out a formal institutional expression of spiritual life. You would never go to church (synagogue, temple, or mosque). You probably find the whole idea of regular church participation incomprehensible and a little bit weird.
I, on the other hand, find involvement in a formal institutional expression of spiritual life to be a fundamental and necessary instrument for living more deeply in awareness of the Divine.
Perhaps I should not worry about your absence from the pew on Sunday. Perhaps you are just different from me and I should rejoice in our differences and affirm your particular spiritual path whether or not it leads you to struggle out of bed on Sunday morning to gather in public worship.
I wonder if this is the best resolution or do I really believe participation in the life of a formal established religious community might actually benefit your spiritual life? Might there be any value for you in “religion”? Is it possible that your Spiritual BUT NOT RELIGIOUS practice might lack some quality that religious affiliation could provide?
(Tomorrow I will try to articulate the contribution I believe church brings to my spiritual journey.)
Christopher Page is the rector of St. Philip Anglican Church in Oak Bay, and the Archdeacon of Tolmie in the Anglican Diocese of B.C. He writes regularly on his blog www.inaspaciousplace.wordpress.com
You can read more articles from our interfaith blog, Spiritually Speaking HERE
