Making Sense of Life Without Religion

Paul Tillich (well known 20th century theologian) once said: Most religious people are practical atheists for most of their lives. What Tillich meant was that even though there are quite a number of people who profess to believe that there is a God who created the universe and even a God who cares about the universe and is involved in it, most of such "religious" people make sense of their lives and make decisions in their lives without being influenced at all by this belief.

There was a movement in the 1960's called "the Death of God" movement, which was a group of theologians who were constructing a new type of religious belief based on the experience of modernity, the experience as they said in which "human beings were gaining mastery over natural forces that everyone had assumed were only subject to divine control." The experience of discoveries that helped control or obliterate diseases, the creation of machines, and even the beginning of the exploration of space caused many people to have a tremendous confidence in modern science as the means of resolving the great problems of human life and society.

Of course, there remained that nasty reality called "death."

Still, theologians, interpreting some comments in Dietrich Bonhoeffer's letters written towards the end of his life, began to speak of living in the world as if there was no God as being the only way to live in faith.

But, Bonhoeffer had a deep trust in the reality and presence and goodness of God. What he was getting at was the "way in which God was in the world." That was the new aspect of Bonhoeffer's thought. Bonhoeffer experienced God as "burdened by life," and not distant from human life. It was for Bonhoeffer as if God was hidden in the depths of human suffering, but, still, God was at the root and at the heart of life.

If God was revealed in the execution of Jesus, then God's presence is in the dark hiddeness of human suffering.

Well, as you might glean from this post, I am not one who makes sense of life without religion. I am most of the time one who makes sense of life with the assumption of the reality of God. But, nonetheless, my understanding of the reality of God is and remains deeply influenced by my experience of human life. And, I believe that God is hidden in this world, and only experienced in places in which common wisdom would not expect God to be present.

I am also, as Tillich says, a practical atheist on many days as well, if he means by that that I live and experience a number of things as if I am separated from the reality of God. But, I lean very strongly towards Bonhoeffer's way and the way of the mystics: faith is a strange combination of the experience of God's presence and the experience of God's absence; but, even in the absence, you are somehow touched by the presence.

The End of the Week and a time to stop

Sunday evening is the end of the week for me. Sunday evening is the time of rest for me. I am very grateful for Sunday afternoon, about 3:30 p.m. when I get home. Though I wasn't particularly happy with my sermon today, nonetheless, the week is done for me. Tommorrow will come and it will start all over for me, but, for now, I am enjoying the "sabbath."

Of course, Sunday is traditionally the first day of the week, but for me, Sunday is the last day of the week. I like everything about Sunday. From a time to worship, to a time to do what is important, not simply what is most pressing. And, then to the time when it all slows down when I get home.

We need times to stop, to really stop. At least, when we are in those periods of our lives when work and home have many demands. But, when our lives seem to have less pressure, we still carry a certain amount of pressure just to live and face the challenges of living well. And, those of us who may not have as many things pressing upon us, still have that burden of living and caring for others in their living. And, we all need times to stop, to be still and know that the Lord is God.

"O Lord, my heart is not lifted up. My eyes are not raised too high. I do not occupy myself with things too great or marvelous for me. But, I have calmed and quieted my soul. Like a child that is quieted at its mother's breast, like a child that is quieted, is my soul."

Amen.

Arrogance, humility and how things get done

The older I get, the more I see how nothing gets done without a dose of arrogance and nothing endures without a large measure of humility. I really get tired these days when I have to rev up the confidence level to an unbearable level just to get something done in my work. And, after its over, I am worn out because I don't enjoy flights into arrogance. I'd rather stay calm, shoot straight, but that won't always get done what is necessary in either the law or in religion. But, I'm having a little more success lately in the religious area with just speaking the truth, staying calm and letting the chips fall where they will. In matters of faith, maybe it is just an illusion to think you have accomplished anything when you act contrary to the way of faith to get it done.

Religion, hatred, and killing

Right in the middle of some of the most violently cruel conflicts in the world is RELIGION. Religion, as a general proposition, is not that great a thing. The simple acceptance that 'religion is good for humanity' reveals a poor understanding of human history, human nature, and religion.

When I was a graduate student in Religion at Vandy, Sue and I got to the be friends with a couple from Yugoslavia: Ronco (husband) and Branca (wife). He was a mechanical engineering graduate student, and he told me that he was Serbian, but had absolutely no use for religion. He did say: "But, I am impressed that you don't kill each other over your religion. That's all I know of religion from my country." Freedom from religion was for him freedom from bloodshed and prejudice and all sorts of crazy misunderstandings.

Of course, in the U.S., we had our days of hatred between Protestant and Catholic, but those days are pretty much over. An anti-semitic strand won't seem to go away. But, we have had a few decades of religious peace in our country, where there has seemed to be a growing tolerance. But, now, since we have joined the centuries old East v. West religious battle, we are learning what my friend from Yugolslavia knew: RELIGION CAN BRING HELL ON EARTH.

And, the anti-human, anti-God nature of violent extremist religion shouldn't make us proud of our own religion, but critical of it, as we acknowledge the hatred and self-interest we smuggle into something that started with a deeply holy experience. Religion in the end gets to be about humans and not about God, unless we criticize our religion by confronting it with our genuine experience of the living God. A man, filled with the spirit of his "religion" and devoid of any experience of the living God filled 31 people full of bullet holes. Now that is what I call bringing hell to earth.

A Prayer of Thanksgiving for the Love of Family

God, thank you for your grace and your mercy - your faithfulness in the life of my family. Thank you for seeing us through our struggles to find a way in our own way that hopefully finds your way for us in this world. We have borne the burdens of worry, of even being tempted to doubt each other, but the faith that comes from you has held us together - the love you have for us has bound us together when it seemed we would fall apart.

And, we celebrate today, O Lord! We celebrate that love which is eternal, and we praise you from the depths of our lives. For you, O Lord, are the source of all goodness, the bringer of new life, the dreamer of a new reality. You continued to dream for us when we had quit dreaming for ourselves. In your grace and by your goodness we are dreaming again - dreaming again those wonderful dreams of faith, hope and love. Amen and Amen.

Listening

Almost everything I do, whether in court, at church, at home goes so much better if I listen to others. When I have the attention to really listen to another person, it means I am at peace and focused. Paying attention to what is going on around you, even right in front of you is a way of listening. And, there is also an inner listening: listening to the movements of your own heart and mind. Buddhists speak of "mindfulness." I like that word.

But, so many days are spent in anxious movements, both physical and mental. And, so many conversations are nothing but alternating making noises come out of our respective mouths. When speech arises out of real listening, then it is part of an engaged conversation. That's when good things come to us, through us, and among us.

When we don't pay attention to what is really going on around us, in front of us . . . when we aren't listening to others . . . when we are unable to listen to the movements within ourselves; that is being in a state of "mindlessness." Mindlessness leads to meaninglessness which lands us in despair. Listening, really listening, is like sending roots down into the source of life. In listening we are renewed. Maybe we have to be renewed in our souls to be able to listen, but maybe in the simple act of listening, the renewal begins.

These three things I want to be rid of

It's Sunday evening. I'm typing slowly because I smashed my finger in the church door today. That is a big, old door, and my right middle finger is feeling it as it turns a darker shade of blue every hour or so.

Three things I ask to be delivered from: a spirit of anxiety; a spirit of self-importance; a spirit of criticism. These three problems came to me clearly a couple of years ago. Clearly, the anxiety is primal, at the deepest level. If I trust at that deep level in God, then the other evil spirits don't arise. But, my trust is lacking and so a spirit of self-importance arises and then with it criticism of others to justify my spirit of self-importance.

These three things I have learned in my almost 49 years of living. Three things I pray of you, O God:

Rid me of a spirit of anxiety
Banish that spirit of self-importance within me
Do away with that spirit of criticism (of others) within me

Amen.