Odd, Archaic, and Even...Relevant - 11-10-2019

Ian Reed Twiss Sermons

If the day of judgment makes sense to you, that’s totally cool. But I’ve always had trouble with this idea that there will come some moment in the future when we who were faithful in life will spring from our graves and occupy a new earth with Jesus and God and all the saints. It seems a bit literalistic—like one more among many ideas and traditions that make the church seem “odd, archaic, and even irrelevant” to so many people. I guess what it really comes down to for me is community. I have always sensed God’s presence most powerfully in the inter-connections among people. In fact, I first heard my own calling to ministry in the context of serving communion, of breaking bread and sharing wine in a circle together, as Christians have done for twenty centuries. This goes to what I would consider to be the difference between religion and spirituality as we tend to use these terms. Spirituality is mostly about the individual, the self and its interior experiences and its personal engagement with the world. That’s why, when speaking of their spirituality, so many people follow our YouTuber in referencing meditation or yoga or hikes in the woods. All of that is vital. We need that, for sure. But it doesn’t necessarily ask much of us in relation to one another. It’s a symptom of, and not a challenge to, the me-focused, hyper-individualized society we live in. Religion, on the other hand, forces us to come together in community. Religion puts us with people we would probably not meet otherwise, people of different ages and classes and backgrounds, people we may not even like and tells us to love one another. Religion cajoles and commands and inspires us to share our resources with others. In this sense it is profoundly counter-cultural. It is messy and contentious and, when it goes wrong, deeply hurtful. But it says to us, as we negotiate and irritate and tolerate each other, Here is beauty. Here is love. Here is God. For more information about the life of the church where this sermon was preached, find our website at www.holycrossnovi.org or our facebook page under the name “Holy Cross Episcopal Church.” Or join us for worship, Sunday mornings at 8:00 and 10:00 at 40700 W. Ten Mile Road, Novi, MI 48375.