Why I’m religious, not just spiritual: Faith, like exercise, needs community
Community is never all peaches and cream. But it’s in the messiness of congregational life — the arguments, the casseroles, the forgiveness — that our spiritual strength grows.
By Bishop Gretchen Rehberg | FāVS News Columnist
The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News.
I have never been an “exercise-for-the-sake-of-exercise” person. I don’t really like it. But I was an athlete, back in the day. I played basketball, track, ran cross country and I worked out in the fire department gym.
All of those I did as a member of a team, with others working out as well, playing together, supporting one another. I enjoyed the atmosphere and even the competition of the workouts.
As I got older and those things went away, I had dogs that kept me active, and I enjoyed walking with my dogs over the years. But as my lungs got worse and my dog died, that all stopped. And that was fine with me, the point was never the exercise, but the companionship.
Many people love to exercise and don’t need companionship to do so, but I am not one of them. I wonder if that is also part of why I am a “religious-not-just-spiritual” person — I want, no I need — the community of the faithful for my spiritual health. I find it easier to pray for the offices of the church in community with others, and I find my commitment to being in worship stronger when I know others are also there, feeling a sense of being part of something much bigger than just my own self.
Seeing the godly in the ugly
Being religious and not just spiritual is more than just being part of a community, however, it is also about taking on the challenge of seeing the godly in the ugly. A community is never all peaches and cream. It is never all happiness and light.
When we gather in community we have differences of opinions, we argue, we get petty and jealous, we have our feelings hurt and we can be anything but Christlike. But we also learn how to forgive, to have compassion, to be with one another in sorrow and in joy, we bring food, we offer healing, we support and uphold one another.
When we commit to being in the community of the church we commit to seeing Christ in the face of our fellow members, even when they just irritated us.
Sometimes it is easier to see Christ in the face of a stranger than the fellow parishioner who just stepped on your last nerve. And yet it is in community that we learn what it means to truly follow Jesus.
Jesus called his disciples into community, taught them, empowered them and sent them out to be disciples. And Jesus does the same for us. The work of the disciple is not exercise for its own sake, but the work of Christ for the sake of the world. The spiritual exercises are not for our personal satisfaction but for the exercise of ministry in the world.
As I continue to work to rebuild my own strength and stamina after major surgery, I know that having a partner in this work has been essential. By myself, it would be too easy to skip the hard work of rehab. Just like in my spiritual life it can be easy to skip the work of keeping my spiritual muscles healthy without others who support me.
And my task is to be supportive to others in their spiritual life. It is when we gather in community — a messy community, yes, but an essential community — that we can truly grow in our discipleship.
I invite you this month to find ways to uphold one another in your communities, and to support one another in your life in Christ.
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