Spirituality - by Bishop Roger
Of course Jesus was not the first, nor the only, teacher of spirituality. I hope to consider some of the other teachers as well, as is proper for a group that calls itself Ecumenical!
So what is ‘spirituality’ and does it differ from religion. I think it does, in that religion is usually concerned with belief, and therefore with dogmas and teachings and even laws, whereas spirituality is a practice – a way of behaving, of walking the road to God – which, while it may take in and be influenced by dogmas and rules, does not necessarily put the heavy emphasis on them which is usually to be found in ‘religion’ (and which emphasis I believe is driving people from the churches and even from Christianity).
What many people seek today is a way,
a praxis, which will produce results.
These results can often be found by practitioners of Eastern religions such as Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, and even some ‘New Age’ ideologies such as Wicca and Druidism, All these have in common a very strong praxis with what is sometimes a weak or even non existent dogmatic base. Contrast this with Christianity which is so strong on dogma (not, I hasten to add, a bad thing), but often weak on praxis, on how to do what the dogma implies. This is not for lack of knowledge among the Christian community, but for lack of understanding and promulgation of the Christian praxis by Christian teachers.
How many Christians, for instance are aware that we have in our religion just as effective and strong practices as are to be found among the ideologies quoted above – and, for that matter, just as exciting! Over this series I shall be trying to bring to you some of these practices. Some are very old but hidden Christian ways. Some will be taken from other areas, because we no longer have available records,
For instance we know that Celtic religious used physical exercises similar to Yoga, but as yet no record of exactly what these were has been found, so we can use yogic exercises in their place as part of our spiritual practice, as Abbot Dechanet OSB has pointed out so well.
This is, for me, an exciting project, because for a long time I have believed that the Church has lost its spiritual function for so many people and become merely an empty weekly mouthing of platitudes. I hope you will find it equally exciting and fruitful in your religious spiritual life.