Happy to be religious

 

Sunday 16^th May – Easter 7

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26. The idea behind choosing two candidates and then casting lots was to give the casting vote to God in who would lead the new community. Though we never hear of Matthias again, his role is probably symbolic – twelve reflecting the twelve tribes of Israel so stressing the continuity of the church with ancient Israel.

1John 5: 9-13. A simple message with enormous implications. “Life” is in Jesus.  God raised him to eternal life and believing this we inherit eternal life by believing in his “name”. Jesus Christ – Joshua Messiah - God is salvation, the anointed one.

John 17: 6-19. The prayer “that they may be one” is used by ecumenists to push for reunification of the churches but is surely a forlorn task in the world where there are thousands of different denominations. And we must remember that this cause would not have been in the mind of the person that wrote it. He had in mind spiritual union between believers and God. I suppose he would have taken for granted that ecclesial unity was a forgone conclusion and would inevitably flow from that prior union. But of course, it hasn’t and you might argue that this was inevitable because of human failings, but nevertheless the notion of spiritual union – gets much better traction in Eastern Christianity where it is the explicit goal of human life – union with God – also called theosis. 

  

A common position for people to take nowadays is to say they are “spiritual but not religious”

What this means in practice is that they are attracted to some concepts culled from such diverse beliefs as Buddhism, Hinduism, paganism, new age, or perhaps Christianity in a pick and mix kind of way but don’t subscribe to any particular religious faith.

This handily doesn’t bind them to any particular ethical standards of behaviour or moral codes and they don’t need to involve themselves with any community. They have beliefs that make no demands on them at all while giving themselves an airy mystical glow.

But I am unashamedly religious.

The root of the word religion is mostly understood as meaning to “bind together” which I understand as meaning you have a unified world-view held together with common morals and values together with the need to relate to each other in all our intrinsic God-given differences.

So I have no qualms about describing myself as both religious and spiritual, because the two are two sides of the same coin.

I am indebted to the Bishop of Oxford John Pritchard who I knew years ago when he was the Archdeacon of Canterbury (incidentally , if you want someone to blame, it was John who encouraged me to seek ordination in the first place) who writes engagingly about how we live faithfully as Christians and our starting point is when we try and get our heads around being in union with God.

Because whatever we do in our everyday Christian life depends on that fundamental relationship with God which in Christianity is three persons, Father Son and Holy Spirit. They are as the Eastern church describes it as a divine eternal dance and when we come into that relationship with God we enter that dance.

Clumsily, and not knowing the tune or the steps at first, but as in any dancing you learn through practicing the steps over and over again.

It starts with being fascinated by God who we have learned to call Father. God cannot be smaller than infinity. God imagined the universe into being and sustains it by his thought. This is God beyond creation who nevertheless invites creation to join in the dance of Love for love’s sake. Our vision of God is enlarged by scientists, enriched by artists and deepened by theologians.

We then become friends of Jesus Christ, in the way described recently in John 15. We inherit that privilege of intimacy in ways described variously as being “in Christ” or “knowing Christ” or “receiving Christ” or Christ living in the believer

As present day believers in Christ John says that we are just as much like the keystone cops as the first disciple’s were, running around without much clue but if we keep an eye on what our best of friends was doing we may become a little less erratic.

That leaves the Holy Spirit. Pray daily that you will be full of the Holy Spirit so you can live in God’s world with God’s help. A punctured football can’t bounce, or if it has a slow leak – which we all do. But an inflated ball will bounce high and be fit for purpose.

We can’t live a Christian life in our own strength. We need to face God and draw on his limitless life.

We need to have our lives turned towards God as our consistent point of reference. Living as a Christian is this world we need to remind ourselves of the presence of God without being unduly pious. Just looking in the direction of God for just a moment before we make decisions puts things in perspective, reminds us who we are and who we serve and allows God’s Grace to work through us.

Having our lives turned towards God begats an attitude of life and disposition of the heart that turns our life around until it become just “who we are”.