This sermon was given at Stevens Chapel on November 17, 2002, by Rev. Dr. Judith Campbell.

Religious vs. Spiritual….what is the difference..

The word "Spirituality" is getting a lot of attention these days. I can’t tell you when someone finds out I’m a minister, how often I hear the words, "well I’m not very religious, but I’m very spiritual." Or, people whose wedding (or memorial service or Child naming ceremony) I am preparing will say to me, "we don’t want a religious ceremony, but we would like a spiritual one."

When I ask what these people mean by this, I often find that there is a predictable similarity to their responses. I find

1. They are totally turned off by the traditional religious practices of their childhood, but are searching for the beauty or the security or comfort which they offered.
2. They were not raised in a specific religious tradition, but are seeking something more in their lives than just attending to their basic survival needs.
3. Or, in the case of people planning a life event ceremony, they want something more than a stark and formulaic religious or civil ceremony to mark what is a major event in their lives.
4. I can do or say anything except use the word God!

These good and conscientious people who, for whatever reasons, don’t want something that can be defined as "religious’ in a categorical or dogmatic or theological sense, definitely want something "spiritual", something mystical or magical or in concert with nature that will lift them out of the experience of the everyday. And predictably, that will turn out to be as varied as the people seeking it.

One person’s idea of a spiritual ceremony will be one involving lots of music. Another will create a ceremony which involves/includes periods of silence wherein we might simply be present and listen to the elegance of the natural world surrounding us. Still another might want more of an Earth or Nature centered expression of spirituality which might involve invoke or celebrate the wonders and the mystery of the natural world, in a more intentional and specific way. These might well involve pagan or ancient Celtic or Druidic or Native American rituals if those rituals are in harmony with that person’s way of thinking.

In many ways, it would seem as though the definition of Spirituality, like that of beauty, is in the eye or in this case the mind/soul of the beholder.

Unitarian Universalists, in creating and attending Sunday services, are clear in the need and desire to be "uplifted", as well as to be intellectually and spiritually challenged or "nudged" out of our everyday and mundane complacency. Given something to "chew on" as more than one person has said to me. Or "Something to keep me going for the rest of the week" says another.

Unitarian Universalism is a religious denomination full of deeply spiritual people most of whom would define their religion and their spirituality as individually as they would define their own ethnic or cultural identity. By our own definition, we are supposed to find what works for us - and then do it. (That is often the hard part.) But then comes the nagging question: what does it all mean, and where do I fit in, and what am I fitting into? And how can Unitarian Universalism, which calls itself a religious denomination, but one grounded in reason and intellectual inquiry, arouse and celebrate the spiritual in our human nature when it is so very different for each of us? How do we define such an elusive concept, which is, if we think about it, at the very heart of our search for and the experience of the transcendent?

I would offer to you that it was our experience of the spiritual, those unexplained mysteries and wonders of life and our universal and persistent need for something beyond the physical and the material. It was our sense of the spiritual that led many cultures and human societies to "create" religious systems through which they could define or categorize those things which they could not otherwise explain. In other words, I suggest that formalized religions came into being to help to explain the unexplainable in people’s lives.

But when a person who rejects formalized religion, or joins a group of screaming liberals who don’t have a dogma because that’s what they are rejecting, or who says everything in this life can eventually be explained through science or math or astrology …or…or…or…..something measurable! And then that same person, has something happen that blows his or her socks off. It could be a sunset, the birth of a child, being present when a loved one dies, or hearing the Mozart Requiem, or the Rachmaninoff Vespers for the first time - and you know you will never be the same again. Enter the Spiritual dimension.

Spirituality, or a sense of the spiritual, is that experience that takes us out of ourselves, that lifts us out of our physical selves, that profoundly moves us and, in some strange, unexplainable or mysterious way re-creates us. And once we have had this kind of an experience, and we find it to be positive, many of us will seek a way to include it in our lives.

There are those people whose core belief is that for them the spiritual is not external, but is something which comes from within. For them the divine light or the still small voice, comes in silence. These individuals need a religious or spiritual practice which will allow periods of intentional and blessed silence. The Society of Friends, the Quakers, find their sense of the Divine spirit in the silence. So do members of Roman Christian contemplative orders and Buddhist monks and nuns who find their blessed assurance in the silence of their respective monasteries. The silence for them is a deeply spiritual experience. Anyone who has attended a Quaker meeting will understand that. In our own Sunday services, we have the practice of having a period of silence for reflection, meditation and prayer. I don’t want to rush that. I find I am uncomfortably jolted when a worship leader announces a period of silence, and within as many as 5-6 seconds, bolts us into a reading or a hymn. I, for one, need that silence as much as a minister as I do when I am sitting in a congregation. The silence for me is a spiritual resting place, where I can gather my thoughts, or generate or make way for new ones to come to the surface, or simply be present to the space and the place and the grace of the moment.

At the other end of the spiritual spectrum, some of our Brazilian Christian Sects find their experience of spirituality in ear splitting, chest pounding expressions of joy and confidence in their faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The decibel level would appear to be in direct proportion to the intensity of the experience and the declaration of faith. The louder the proclamation, the more exuberant is the sense and presence of the spirit.

And curious as it may seem, I know a number of UU’s who will occasionally attend a Greek or Russian Orthodox service, not out of faith, but for the "total immersion" spiritual experience of the combination of the incredible music, the smell and mysterious quality of the incense and the richly costumed ritual pageantry of centuries old religious rituals. For them the religious experience is the spiritual experience as well.

I started this talk by saying that the word "Spirituality" is getting a lot of attention these days. I think that might be because organized religion may have failed so many people, spiritually, and they are seeking to restore it! This can happen when a religion, or a religious group or spiritual community, becomes so involved and focused on the mundane, the political, or even the performance aspects of the worship experience that they forget the higher purpose and calling or mission of the community. When that connection to the transcendent is lost in pursuit of the details, we lose part of the reason we are gathered as a religious/spiritual community. The spiritual element in our lives is very fragile and elusive. We can’t just pick it up it, plug it in and turn it on like a video. The spiritual must come to us. And it comes to us when we make a place for it to remain in our lives. Some religions and religious denominations take this spiritual/mystical part of their mission very seriously and do it very well. Others, for whatever reason - internal politics, greed, personal agendas - can and have lost sight of the higher calling of religion and religious practice in service of efficiency, organizational practice and financial security.

Religious organizations as well as individual people can forget to stop and smell the roses! Even ministers can forget. This one needs to remind herself to practice what she preaches every so often, alas sometimes too often. But I do…stop that is, and go out in search of a rose with my name on it, or to stop and write the poem that refuses to remain silent or to say thank you to my spouse and best friend for being so much more to me than the other name on the check book and in the church directory.

I think that in some ways, Unitarian Universalists more than most folk, need to be reminded to "go out and find themselves a rose" now and then. We are so good at telling every one else to do it. But how often do we find ourselves up to our… "neck" in socially responsible well meaning alligators, because somebody forgot to drain the swamp of our to-do lists!

And when the sense of the spiritual is awakened, there are the hard core intellectuals - that’s lots of us - who are positively uncomfortable when expressions of joy or sorrow are too "Spirited" for our emotional and cultural framework.

But then, by my own definition, spirituality is a very personal thing, and like our covenanted inclusion of those individuals with different theologies, ethnic and cultural backgrounds and personal lifestyles, perhaps if we open ourselves to the inclusion of a wider range of spiritual experience and expression, we might find ourselves adding a deeper dimension not only to our Sunday mornings, but to our Mondays through Saturdays as well.

In a very practical book on church administration, entitled "How Churches Grow", the author suggests that Churches grow not by numbers alone. Churches can grow numerically of course, by attracting new members. That’s an outward expansion. Churches can grow financially, also an outward expansion. But Churches can grow inwardly. Churches can expand by deepening their sense of community which is something, we are doing right now (We are doing the other two as well.) And finally, Churches can grow stronger and deeper Religiously and Spiritually, which is something we must not forget either as individuals or as a denomination as we envision our future together as a covenanted community of die-hard individuals. No small job.!

Deepening our spiritual understanding is what Janet Holladay in her discussion series on Thoreau is doing. Making a joyful noise in celebration of life is what our choir is (desperately) trying to do. After the holidays, Janet and I will be co-leading some discussions around theological reflection for Unitarian Universalists, something she and I are doing together now as part of our own work together as minister and student pastoral intern. (And I can’t begin to tell you how much I am getting out of it. )

But in the end, I still think religion and spirituality are two different things. Related, but different. And you can have one without the other. A person can be deeply spiritual, without belonging to a religious denomination. But if religion, or religious practice, lacks a spiritual dimension, then I would seriously question the foundation or the core belief system of that practice of faith. Which of course brings us right back to where we usually begin: with a question. My question to you is: why are you here? I know why I’m here. And it’s not the salary! I’m here because my practice of religion and my yearning for the spiritual in my life come together here on Sundays, and at Potlucks and at choir practice, and even organizational meetings and also on Mondays through Saturdays as well. But it’s nice to come back on Sundays for a tune–up.

It is certainly part of the work of all of us, to make space for the spiritual, here in the church and here in the heart, and anywhere we might find ourselves; a kind of permanently reserved parking space for the transcendent, just in case!

Blessed be!