“Go and make disciples of all the nations.” The authority of those words sent the Twelve Apostles on a gigantic mission to evangelize the whole world, to share with all people everywhere the spirituality they learned at the feet of Jesus.1 The choice of spirituality was rather direct for the first followers of Jesus. One could choose Christ, Hindu, Buddha, Zarathustra, one of the Baals or something else. But with the passing of time the styles of spirituality have proliferated. Many Christians today still see their choices in simplistic terms of whether to join the church of their parents or choose another. Actually, the choices are far more complex than that. There is no longer one style of Christian spirituality, not even one style for each denomination. There are many, many styles. I want to focus on some elements that I perceive are crucial as you choose the style of spirituality that makes God in Jesus Christ most real to you. In prayer and meditation I find it meaningful and nurturing to transport myself in imagination, of course back into that world into which Christianity was born. It was a simpler and smaller world. Our ability to travel and communicate in that simpler and smaller world was slow and cumbersome. When changes occurred, others learned of them slowly sometimes by traveling, sometimes by reading a letter, sometimes by entertaining a visitor, sometimes by reading a book years later. Now, 2000 years later, the world you and I know is vastly different. Until only five hundred years ago the earth was considered to be small, flat, and having “drop-off” edges. Less than twenty-five years ago, one of our astronauts looked from outer space at the earth and blurted out, “Look, the only people I know live on that planet!” Think of it: you and I are citizens of planet earth. All human beings are linked together with systems of instant communication audio and video all around this planet: from earth to sky, into outer space and back. The world you and I know is global in scope. In this complex world there are styles and styles of spirituality being communicated to us. As I lift up some issues of spirituality, I alert you, I am going to be a bit critical. Speaking of styles of spirituality, let me tell you a story. A burglar entered an affluent home one night. As he entered the hall, he heard a voice, which he quickly concluded was a parrot: “Jesus will get you!” The burglar slowed down until he thought, “Why, I don’t believe in Jesus, so I don’t have to worry.” Again he heard the parrot, “Jesus will get you!” As he moved down the long hallway toward what he believed was the library and where he would likely find the safe, he found himself looking into the face of a foaming, open bear-tooth mouth of a huge Doberman pinscher, growling. Just then he heard the parrot again, this time saying, “Sick ‘im Jesus!”2 That style of spirituality is widespread. It portrays God as a negative, threatening, frightening, manipulative, intimidating force. The Jesus I perceive is not somebody out to get us.

It hurts my soul that millions of people, many of them immobilized at home or in institutions, can hardly turn on a radio or television religious program without getting that style beeping into their ears. Almost all religious programs feature actor types skilled at guilt-tripping, condemning the churches that have done a masterful job of nurturing faith in the listeners during their active years, pronouncing doomsday, and effecting feelings of helplessness and hopelessness because they say humanity is no good. An experience several years ago provoked me to evaluate my style of presenting Christ’s Gospel. A young man called on the phone. His call combined good humor with seriousness. He said, “I wanted to prepare you for a possible call. I just talked with a good friend. I told him if he was looking for a guilt-trip, I would refer him to my priest who operates one of the best travel agencies in town.” I remember that moment distinctly. I was stunned. Once I was able to regain my composure, I began asking myself questions. Is that the image I have been projecting? Have I been leading people to grovel in self-pity over their failures and pains? Have I been turning people’s eyes inward and backward so that they beat their breasts for being human and imperfect? If so, I must change my course. I began to discover a fuller life in a Christian spirituality that is driven by hope for the tomorrows, a spirituality that believes God is out there challenging us to move on to greater things. Personally, I need to dream about my tomorrows. I need to see how my spirituality relates to my decisions and actions every day. I need a spirituality that moves me to treat myself and others with compassion and this planet earth with respect. I need a spirituality that is dynamic, always changing. I know that is contrary to widespread popular opinion. We tend to think that spirituality never changes. But my life is always changing. And here I remind myself, and you, that cultures change, politics change, economics change, religions change some for good, some for bad. The mature ones reform, adjust and move ahead. The weak ones assert themselves, often arrogantly, barely survive, and then die before they know what is happening. I want a spirituality that inspires hope, positive thought, a vision of better things to come. Visit the Hall of Faith: Abraham and Moses, David and Isaiah, John the Baptizer and the Twelve Apostles believed God was inspiring them to look into the future expecting better and greater things to happen. They responded to that challenge and greater things happened. A spirituality that will do these things for me must answer three questions with a gut-level affirmative. Question One: does this spirituality accept and affirm plurality? Question Two: does it make me proud to be human? And Question Three: does it interpret an ethical concern for the entire universe, not just “me-and-God-will-work-it-out” kinds of routines? Question One: Does this spirituality accept and affirm plurality? The delicacy of this issue was experienced by thirty-six delegates from our diocese (Episcopal) who recently visited Nigeria celebrating ten years of an ongoing companion relationship. How to cooperate with other religions was a major topic. The Nigerian Christians’ effort to relate to the Muslims in their country in a Christ-like way is a good example for all Christians to heed. The Smothers Brothers did an effective routine on religious pluralism. It goes like this: Tommy, confused about the numerous groups of organized religion in the world, queries Dick, “Why are there so many?” Dick says, “Is there anything that is common among all these many religions?” Tommy thinks, and he is sure he has the right answer, “Yes, belief in a Supreme Being.” “Oh, no,” says Dick. “Then what is the common denominator?” Dick responds, “Each one believes his is the right way. That’s what is common!”3 How true it is! This is a delicate and entangling issue. Many don’t seem to give any validity to religious pluralism. They even condemn their sisters and brothers within the Christian faith who hold different views and/or practice different styles than they. And, to them, non-Christian religious adherents are pagans and eternally lost. Jesus did not condemn people because they held a different religious loyalty or belief. To him all people are creatures of God. You and I are heirs of that godly charity. Plurality contributed genuinely to the formation of the early church. In fact, the Christian community has been most alive and vital and persuasive, in those times and places when it has been open and able to Ôchristen’ and Ôswallow up’ the native cultural rites and practices, ideologies, politics and values of the people. Our delegates to Nigeria witnessed rapid growth and evangelization in the Anglican Church there due, in large part, to their becoming creative and introducing native music, dance and expressions that “nurture” the liturgy. For instance, Paul did not condemn the Greeks for spontaneously “speaking in tongues.” He challenged them to treat it as a “Spirit gift” and to use it for the good of the whole community rather than an entertaining display Paul’s lecture on Mars’ Hill was a beautiful example of accepting and affirming people where they were and offering a wider interpretation of it. Peter did not condemn the first believers in Jerusalem for “pooling” their resources and living in commonality. To the contrary, he encouraged it, but in a perspective of informed charity so the reconciling ministry of Jesus Christ would be at the center, not personal and self-serving agendas. Question Two: Does this spirituality make me proud to be human? Many media personalities, claiming to be Christian, specialize in putting listeners on a guilt-trip for having human desires. They offer one option: repress your God-given natural desires, or let the Devil rule and take you to Hell.

They have a proclivity for negatives, like disdain for the human body, suspicion of human sexuality, the belief that human beings are totally depraved, worth nothing, a nobody from the inside to the outside, and, that, because of it, God will destroy the earth. Not a single positive statement! I call that an ideology of helplessness and hopelessness. Failure to appreciate human life legitimizes violence, indifference, apathy, fatalism. It makes one feel that he or she can no longer effect a difference in the world. Many blame movies, hard rock music, pornography and drugs for violence, apathy and suicide. There may be some truth in that, but it still stands that negative, judgmental religion itself is one of the strongest contributors to human helplessness and hopelessness: if your religion makes you feel you are no good and pronounces imminent doom on you and the world, where is your basis for hope for the future? Why be concerned about yourself, anyone else or this wonderful planet? How can one appreciate himself or herself if, hour by hour, day by day, week by week, all one hears is “You are totally depraved”? Total depravity, to me, is a hopeless and helpless concept. That ideology supports slavery, child labor and keeps women in the delivery room.4 In my struggle with the Garden of Eden, I see its truth in a different perspective. My departure from Eden is an advance, not a retreat, a step up, not a plunge down. The beasts remain in Eden where there is no choice, only instinctual obedience. I feel far more positive, hopeful, and moved by God walking forward, eager to be “like God,” hungry to experience the choices between good and evil, ready to risk freedom and willing to pay the price of knowing death. Yes, I am an ego-centered creature. I do resist trusting God my creator. But ... I can learn ... I can be motivated ... I can be guided to understand that trusting a loving God is a right use of my freedom to choose. Life provokes me. People provoke me. While in this maze I need help to find and become the real “self” God intends. I need parents, teachers, ministers, peers, significant others who affirm me, not who knock me down as no good!5 Question Three: Does this spirituality engage me socially and ethically? We are social beings. We develop a social and ethical sense of being involved with others. When we separate from or deny this social dimension, and the challenges inherent, we minimize our accountability. Thank God for the community of faith, ordinarily and actually experienced by each of us in a place, with a group, and in an environment we call church. My plea is this: know your spirituality. Know its assumptions. Choose the spirituality that affirms you. Choose the spirituality that enables you to affirm others without being their judge. Most of all, choose the spirituality that affirms Jesus Christ who came among us because God loves the whole world.

1. Cf. The New American Bible, The Good News Bible, The New English Bible, and others.2. Robert Schuller, Hour of Power, and other sources.3. CBS-TV 5/18/88.4. Frederica Harris Thompsett, Professor of Church History at Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, has written in depth on these issues and has announced plans to complete a book, The Reformation of Spirituality.5. Edward Sims in The Plumb Line, newsletter of Christ Episcopal Church, Cincinnati, Ohio, Volume 7, Number 21, 5/27/79.