Spirituality

In these changing times many individuals will confess “I am not religious but I am spiritual”. What does that mean? One has only to study Christian history to realize every religion has imperfect members including the leaders. People get sometimes hurt. Clergy and fellow followers of faith are human just like you. All are struggling within culture-soup made of events of life happenings within their emotional and physical boundaries.  All humans are fallible.

Churches are a means to help a community to learn and keep accountability in their relationship to God while learning love and forgiveness. Especially important is forgiveness!  In some instances the bedrock of accountability has started to deteriorate. Yet, church still has that function. Each church has its group of people who needs that churche's particular doctrines to live accountable lives and learn to draw closer to God.

There are other spirits than God and the Holy Spirit, anywhere  from angels to not so benevolent ones. Someone walking it alone, a person calling themselves spiritual, will encounter dangers lurking, hence church community is important. At the same time church community must awaken and transform itself in order to become a valuable resource for persons in their spiritual encounters.

For the most part we have not been taught how to discern that which is harmful in the spiritual world, nor how to deal with it. Most of the time people are thrilled that they have an insight or hear a voice from the beyond. Often they will feel 'chosen'. They do not think that beyond is a multifaceted world like our own. There is not only God and protective angels, but things Christianity and various religions call Satan, evil or selfish desire and various facets in between. There is a multitude of beings invisible to most humans. Most everything that exists, animals, trees, as well as the earth has beings sustaining them. Those beings sustaining creation exist by God's design. Some will work to our benefit, some won't. Then there are also those who are often called "earthbound spirits", humans who have died and failed to move on.

I have studied these things for many years. This does not make me under any circumstances special, all this means is that with extra insights I also have extra responsibilities. Theoretically everyone has such abilities, but  in many people they are mostly dormant often to a taught fear.

While the Church has kept us, or at least tried to keep us from getting in harms way, it also instilled a great fear of anything supernatural, unearthly and invisible. That is an interesting thing, since God is also invisible to us. I think this taught fear also causes the problem that people withdraw themselves from God. This is a sign that this very fear the church teaches is backfiring. If church would teach us to embrace the other world (which would require us to acknowledge spiritual experiences of various kinds) people may have a harder time denying God. We are not only ignorant to such things, we also don't know how to discern that which will make us whole or which will harm us in the spiritual world. We don't know how to deal with otherworldly experiences.  I have met only few pastors who have the gift of healing, vision, or know how to get rid of ghosts, or beings that may cause havoc in a persons life. Instead of passing on these gifts we decided to tell people there is no such thing. We also tell people that a person with such gifts is strange or even crazy. It's a whole lot easier, but not helpful to people who have such supernatural experiences and seek help. 

Explaining things away does not make them go away!

Mysticism is the only thing I know in Christianity that touches on what people are looking for spiritually. Mystics as we understand them in the Christian Church are individuals who draw deeply into God. They love God, experience a deep love from God in return, out of which develops love for human beings; their neighbors. They often have visions and gifts given by God others who do not choose to draw near will not have. These believers pray many times a day if not unceasingly. All spirituality needs prayer as its very foundation, whether it is Christian prayer, Jewish prayer, Islamic prayer, or whatever your tradition may call for. Our churches need to invite spiritual direction into their walls. They need to become interested in the unique experiences of many, learning from them as well as guiding them.

People have questions about the afterlife. Rarely do we approach this subject and are uncomfortable with people who have had afterlife or near death experiences. This is because these experiences are mystical in nature, therefore disregarded as unique oddities. This is the case of most things we do not fully understand. Our biggest problem is that we are terrified of death. We elect to shroud ourselves with ignorance because it is a lot easier to deal with, then this subject. We let medical doctors make decisions whether or not a patient could or should have had such an experience. Are we as theologians allowed to practice medicine without a license?

How is it that medical personnel has come to think they can claim to be experts in our field unless we abdicate and elect ignorance?  Optimally theologians ought to work together with science to find answers.

If we, as pastors are not spiritual, then we should invite someone to guide us who is spiritual, who has a deeper relationship with God. Being a Pastor is a calling. If we are truly guided by the Holy Spirit this calling may put us on a road which may be contrary to some church policies or certain doctrines.  There are many people who are truly hungry for the spiritual. We must feed them and educate them or they will go roaming and looking for answers. (This is happening right now with "church shoppers"). To learn answers to spiritual experiences requires pastors themselves to draw near to God and learn to understand and deal with that which we cannot see.

Regardless what the facets of the spiritual world are, the most important thing we need to learn, live, and understand is love. Our very function is to love. There is nothing else more important. In all we do, we must do it with love. This love is not only spiritual, it is physical because it must come through caring action.

Hence, spirituality is not only a drawing close to God, it is recognizing God in all of humanity and creation, as well as an act of love toward them. Our actions need to be actions of compassion. If we chose not to help someone for whatever reason, we neglect our function: LOVE.
(Note: Helping does not always mean to give a person what they want. Likewise a person offering criticism may do so out of compassion for someone, not to be a pain.)

Exercise:

1.

Envision someone who hurt you in the past coming to you for help. What will your response be?

Be honest with yourself. What would it take for you to be able to help that person. Reflect on that.

In the end try to surround yourself with light and draw them into that light (meditations we have done before). As that person stands in that light what truth are you able to learn about them?
Can you see yourself helping them? What are you learning about giving help?

2.

Biblical Scripture reading:

1 Cor.13:1-7

© 2012 Angelika Mitchell