Spiritual AND Religious

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, February 5, 2023
1 Corinthians 2:1-16

    About five years ago, a Pew Research Center study found that a quarter of American adults identify as “spiritual but not religious.”  I tried to find more current research, because my guess is that number is even higher now in 2023, especially with the effects of the pandemic.  Only about 5% described themselves as religious but not spiritual, 20% neither, and about half of Americans said they were spiritual AND religious.  My guess is most of us here today would describe ourselves as both spiritual AND religious.  It seems that most people today view being “spiritual” as a positive, and are more wary of being “religious,” especially if that means being religious without a spiritual component.  Today in the second chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul calls his fellow Christians “spiritual.”  What does being spiritual mean to Paul, and what does it mean to be “spiritual” AND “religious” as Christians today?  My guess is we have different understandings of what it means to be spiritual than Paul and the Corinthian Christians had in mind, so let’s look more closely at our second reading for today.
    One thing that I never realized until I started digging into Paul’s letters is that Paul never, not even once, calls the community that has come together as followers of Christ “Christians.”  The book of Acts tells us in chapter 11 that in Antioch the followers of Jesus were first called Christians, but Paul never uses that term himself.  He does, as we can see today, call Christians “spiritual.”  His language here is quite trinitarian in speaking of God the Father’s power, Jesus Christ crucified and the Holy Spirit’s revelation.  Remember that Paul is writing to so-called “spiritual” Christians who are acting anything but led by the Holy Spirit and guided by the cross of Christ.  The Corinthian Christians are divided, in conflict with one another over who is better than others because of intellectual ability or social class, because they were baptized by Paul or Apollos or someone else, or even because of their spiritual gifts.  The people of Corinth really were thinking that some Christians were more favored by God because of particular gifts and abilities they had from other Christians.  Paul is trying to break all of these prejudices and misunderstandings down.
    He gives the example that he’s actually not very smart or courageous or a good speaker, but the Holy Spirit, the power of God is speaking through him to give him strength and wisdom.  Now, Paul was known as one of the best rhetoricians and evangelists of all time, so he may be a little too humble with this example, but his point is that the Holy Spirit enables us to do things that we otherwise would not be able to do or be as good at.  Instead, Paul urges us as well as the Corinthian Christians to have the mind of Christ – to not just live like Jesus, but also try to think like Jesus, and remember, once again, that we are united by the cross of Christ as the body of Christ.  If we try to unify ourselves or define ourselves by anything else than Christ crucified, we are not the church…we are something different than the body of Christ.
    Now as I’m trying to unpack Paul’s understanding of what it means to be spiritual for us here in the second chapter of 1 Corinthians, you may already be noticing that this “spirituality” is different from what we might think it is today.  Some people would say they’re spiritual because they consult tarot cards or dabble in astrology; have a daily yoga or meditation practice; commune with nature through hiking in the woods, or just pray regularly at home.  My guess is that a lot of people reject being religious or a part of organized religion because they only see the hypocrisy, the division, the judgmentalism, the humanness of the church.  I know that there are those of you in this room who have spent time away from the church because of the mishandling of sexual abuse, rigid legalism, conflict with a pastor or among lay leadership that was extremely hurtful.  Paul is grieving that the Corinthian Christians are hurting one another and abandoning the main purpose of the church – to share the light and salt of Christ with the world.  Notice, though, that Paul strongly believes that though the church is imperfect, the Holy Spirit can still do amazing things through ordinary, sinful people and institutions.
Christian spirituality for Paul is difficult, if not impossible, to practice solely by yourself.  We experience the power of the Holy Spirit through one another:  “We speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual,” Paul says.  The Holy Spirit gives each of us particular gifts to serve one another as the church – that’s partly what it means to be spiritual – to use our gifts and see other’s gifts at work.  To encourage and upbuild one another, console and even hold one another accountable.  To put our trust in God’s power to work through us every single day as the daily walk of faith, relying on the Holy Spirit to work through us and give us confidence!
    This is basically what Jesus says in the gospel when he tells us that we are salt and light.  The “you” is plural.  Together, our light as the body of Christ, the church, shines when we unite with one another for the same purpose to share God’s love in Christ as strong as one of those lights they use for night construction or a lighthouse, for example.  One grain of salt doesn’t give much of an impact but many grains together gives a dish taste!
    Today, we welcome new members officially as partners with us in our mission TOGETHER to preach, teach, and share God’s love in Christ.  We hope that we will not only be religious in our dedication to serving God, but also spiritual – in regular prayer with the Holy Spirit to give us confidence, to be light and salt for the world. Through our unity in the gospel, we become stronger and wiser, not by our own might, but because God’s power is at work through us.  I am excited to see where the Holy Spirit will lead us next!  Let your light shine before other, Jesus says, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.  Amen.