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When Pew Research is doing their surveys around church attendance one of the categories is “spiritual, but not religious.” This is a fairly large group for the most part. (However, I was reading a survey this morning that noted that church decline has leveled off).
When I hear that category, I find myself wondering why aren’t churches considered spiritual? And as I think about it more, I wonder why we don’t talk more about spirituality and spiritual practices in churches. If people are looking for spirituality which is defined as:
“Connection to meaning, purpose, and a sense of connection to something greater than oneself.”
it seems that church would be a place to find that!
We gather each week to renew our connection with God and with each other in order to be strengthened for the work that God calls us to do. The work of feeding the poor, finding homes for the homeless, visiting the prisoner, and doing other good work in the world. Doing good work in the world seems like something that could give someone meaning, purpose, and connection to something greater than themselves.
So, again, I ask why not church?
Well, frankly I don’t think we (the church) do a very good job talking about spirituality and hand in hand with that, spiritual practices.
If we want our physical body to be healthy and to grow in good ways we practice good nutrition, exercise, and stress reduction. It is something that one needs to practice day after day to get it right.
If we want our spiritual selves to be healthy and grow in good ways we need to do some spiritual practicing. So, what are spiritual practices and how do we do them?
To begin, turn off the noise. We are connected to news, music, podcasts, and whatever 24/7. There are few times in our days that there is silence. So I would invite you to consider taking some moments and turn everything off.
So, then what?
How about spending some time in prayer? Praying in the morning and before going to sleep? Praying before eating? Setting aside a few or several minutes during the day to sit quietly in prayer? Prayer is talking to God. We talk to family and friends during the day, why not include God in that list? So, talk to God but leave some time for God to join in. Prayer is conversation with God but not a one-sided conversation. I invite you to sit still and wait and listen for God to speak with you.
Meditation is also a good practice in the silence. It doesn’t have to be 20 or 30 minutes, especially at the start. We don’t start with 100 push ups when we start to work out. Maybe set a timer for a minute or two. Go someplace, get comfortable, and breathe in and out. Breathe in love and peace. Breathe out stress and worry. If other things come into mind, just let them pass through and continue to breathe. Pay attention to what you feel during this time and perhaps God might pop in.
Spending time in the Word. Set aside some time to read scripture and see what God has to say to you in those pages. Again, maybe set a timer, for 10 minutes or whatever time you have. I have been privileged to spend time with people who have read their Bibles one hour every day for years and years. They were people who exhibited strong faith and trust in God. Their faith was just amazing.
Finally, I will suggest spending time in nature. I have heard over and over again how people feel closest to God in nature. Yet how much time do we actually spend quietly in nature? Set some intentional time to go sit in a park or walk the Ice Age trail or sit on a beach. I would again, invite this to be a time of silence so that you can listen for the voice of God.
These are just a few ideas to create some spiritual practices in your lives. Pick one to try for a month. One that seems like a good fit for you and frankly, easy. Again, when we start a new skill, we don’t start at the end. We start at the beginning, and we have success and sometimes, we fail. But we pick ourselves up and try again, and then we keep doing that until we have learned the skill.
Blessings to you on this journey,
Pastor Connie
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