Holistic Religion

SUN., SEPT. 17, 1989, 6:10 AM
FARM, STUDY

This is not a new theme, by any means. You will recognize aspects of this Teaching as some of the most repeated and emphasized. Yet this is a slightly new way of presenting it, and I do want you to understand and affirm this kind of a faith. Listen and hear, o son.

I shall start with the dimension you might expect as the concluding, overarching one… the spiritual. It should be obvious that your religion should be spiritual… but what does that mean? It means, first, that it is based in a mystical relationship with Me, the Holy Spirit. It is a personal relationship, but it is not one that can be verified by others, for it is ultimately unique. In this dimension the Holy Scriptures are valuable as they show forth mystical and spiritual truths, that come more often from revelation than from disciplined study. Anything and everything that you experience can have a spiritual quality to it. In this dimension your religion urges you to see life as a mystical dance, wherein reality is seldom what it seems to be, here in the earth.

Another important dimension is the emotional. Religion should regularly touch the emotions, mostly the positive ones. Joy and thankfulness are emotions. Love is the supreme emotion, and I want you to feel and express love for your church, for its music, its liturgy, the people… and… whatever. Enjoy those moments when you feel emotional tingles of what you are experiencing. A good religion certainly should have an emotional dimension.

And yet there should be a balance with the intellectual. I urge you to read and study My written Scriptures so that you know them… so that you know the people and events that are the historical basis for this faith. Even your class has an intellectual strand, for the Teaching is printed and read, and the meaning of certain words and phrases is important to understanding the truth I am trying to convey. There is some value in seminaries and Biblical scholarship. I call on you to be and remain a Presbyterian, one of the more intellectual denominations in your religion. For you, personally, this is not the dominant dimension, but it must be part of this whole that I am extolling.

The social dimension insists that you must share this religion with other humans. You are part of a congregation, and as you gather this morning you will be gathering, in one sense, as a social group. Before worship and during the coffee time there will be the sharing of experiences or just salutations. This afternoon the sharing of the religion will be the means for social fellowship with others you have not known before. And so it is, wherever you go in your travels.

The environmental aspect is of two natures. One is the environment of the church building. Yours is familiar and very conducive to the practice of your religion. Yet you also feel the spirit in other places of worship, even some that are new to you… as Old South Church. The other nature is the earth itself and its natural wonders. In this sense your religion should have a good dose of pantheism… seeing Me in the beauty and wonder of this earth, in its growing and developing reality.

Your body is the “temple” for its spirit, that part of Me, in this earth life. Our religion should encourage you to take care of this physical body, but also utilize and exercise it in your living. Feel the joy that comes from being a physical person, even as these capacities wane with age.