Spiritual practises are popular these days. I wonder if an equal commitment to social practises could gain the same popularity?
Spiritual practise is a more accessible and less religious description of ways any of us can attend to the spiritual both in ourselves and in the world. Across a spectrum from individual meditation to more ritualized prayer and communal worship, considering and cultivating spiritual practises can open us to the sacredness of everything. While active participation in religious communities may continue to decline, spiritual practises seem to be increasing in popularity for non-religious and religious people alike. And while this exploration can be a privilege for those of us who are comfortable, it is no less true that those who are struggling may find or hold on to spiritual practises that help us cope and endure. Spiritual practises can encourage our sensing, individually and collectively, the sacredness of all of life and this world in all its beauty and all its suffering. And I imagine and hope for the good that could do for human community and this sacred planet we inhabit.
Within my own Lutheran Christian community, we have been engaged in a process of what we’ve loosely describe as “Re-forming for mission.” Mission is a historically laden word with positive and very negative stories. In this case and our context, the word describes God’s mission lived by Jesus to help and heal the world for good. Part of this process is returning to the very simple and profound spiritual practise of listening – to ancient words of the Bible and to the words others share as we repeatedly hear them together. The spiritual practise of careful listening has been good to keep together. And it is encouraging us to grow in awareness of God’s mission, especially in our neighbourhoods, and how we can join with God and others in hope and help and healing together.
The other part of this process of re-forming is “social practises.” This is the commitment to engage more intentionally with people around us. Our neighbours, our co-workers, people we meet in different day to day activities, to practise be present to one another. And to practise the same careful listening to what is happening in our lives, and no matter our different spiritual perspectives, being open and opened to how God’s/the sacred mission of hope and help and healing may be and could be unfolding in and through our lives and the connections between us. Practising this is as simple and profound as “experimenting” with intentionally having new and different conversations with people with whom we cross paths, whom we know or give a few moments to try to know, and listening carefully when we do. We all know how closely we can physically live alongside one another, and not know, and maybe increasingly in the age of personal portable electronic communication, not talk or listen to one another. What potential for growth in hope and help and healing could this kind of social practise hold for our lives and the world that we share together?
At this point we are only at the experimental stage of these social practises. They are definitely taking different forms for different people, including between introverts and extroverts! But the reports back are encouraging. It seems like more intentional social practises can help us hear and see one another in sometimes profoundly different and even sacred ways that hold great hope for help and healing in this world. I hope and pray this kind of social practise will continue to grow in popularity.
Rev. Lyle McKenzie is pastor of Lutheran Church of the Cross of Victoria and part-time chaplain in Multifaith Services at the University of Victoria.
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