(on my original post I've since edited) I'm playing partly in purple for Lent and partly in rose for Laetare...MomPriest hosts today:
Yesterday I attended a led conference by Diana Butler Bass. She is presenting new ideas on the state of the church and why there is hope for Christianity. One of her premises is a Newsweek/Washington Post poll from 2005 that states that 55% of the people in this country describe themselves as religious AND spiritual.religious, more or less—these activities have an overt binding-back, re-linking function:
Without going into detail about her understandings of religious and spiritual (you may want to attend one of her conferences, if you can) share with us five thoughts ideas or practices that you consider to be "religious." Then share with us five thoughts, ideas, or practices that you consider to be "spiritual." OR are they the same thing to you?
1. going to church—whether Sunday worship, a potluck or a committee meeting
2. social activism
3. political activism
4. reading, writing, thinking more or less formally intentional theology: teaching, preaching, etc.
5. ecclesiastical and judicatorial structures: yes, they do help reconnect heaven and earth to some extent and I believe strongly in historical continuity in the practice of sacraments, ordinances and ordination, but at times they get a little in the way and cost too much in time, efficiency and $$$
more or less spiritual...less apparently immediate:
1. prayer in every form: free, liturgical, psalmic, simply felt rather than spoken...
2. music—singing, playing, listening, imagining
3. adventuring and contemplating nature and creation, particularly outside
4. dreaming, both waking dreams and sleeping dreams
5. storytelling and sharing meals and experiences in community
disclaimer: some of this was a little routine and maybe a tad tawdry, but it's a great topic and I was ready to play today!
I enjoyed your play, and there are positives in both!
ReplyDeleteactually....what you say falls directly in line with what most folks say about religion and spirituality at this point in time. It's curious that even though the RevGals are of different ages, give or take a decade, we have all said (more or less) the same as the average American...so. even those of us deeply invested in religion and spirituality have much the same understanding as the average American? uhm....curious??
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