Sermon preached at The Church of the Holy Trinity,

Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia

Sunday May 25
th
201,
The Re!erend "lan #eale, human race to run errands for him, as if he couldn$t ta%e care
of himself& He ma%es the creatures' the creatures don$t ma%e him& Startin( from scratch,
he made the entire human race and made the earth hospita)le, *ith plenty of time and
space for li!in(
S&"&R&T&"&
Maybe you, like me, have received a postcard in the mail from one of the new
churches being established in Philadelphia. Such churches, ecclesial gatherings,
meet in theaters, hotels or the historic edifices of almost redundant churches.
The postcard urges the reader to find new life apart from the old and, !uote,
"stuffy people and irrelevant worship# of mainline religion.
$ell, as for this structure %made of stone and wood& and this structure %made of
flesh and blood&' "old# yes but "stuffy# definitely and resoundingly not(
To assume that authentic, vitalauthentic, vital )hristianity is of necessity
e*pressed in powerpointPowerPoint by open+necked shirt wearing ministers
accompanied by drums and guitars is fatuous to say the least. ,ll too often in
religion %as in politics - as in relationship - as in life& the simplistic substitutes for
the simple, and the infantile for the infant+like. .ot so with /esus and not so with
us.
0,nd yet hundreds of thousands buy into these facile distinctions between the
religious and the spiritual spawning what is now nominated the
phenomenonrecogni1ed as the movement of the S2.3, a social category now
readily recogni1ed as Spiritual 2ut .ot 3eligious4 a category that seems to award
itself an e*istential cachet and preen itself on its psychic 5e ne sais !uoi.
Sauntering through ,thens the great apostle Paul comes across the ,reopagus,
the place of government and the site of all that is holy in ,thens. The historian
6uke, in ,cts 78, describehistorian 6uke, in ,cts 78, describes the encounter
between the man of /udaeo+)hristian faith and the cosmopolitan, urbane beliefs
of the sauvesuave ,thenian.
$ith resolute clarity, Turning the tables, Paul describes the faith of the ,thenians
as "religious# %789::& but hardly "spiritual#.
,nd, as always, Paul deftly, adroitly identifies areas in which the spiritual faith of
the )hristian completes, fulfils the religious faith of the ,thenian.
The ;od of Paul is intensely personal and invites relationship, the god of the
,thenian unknown, impersonal and distant.
The ;od of Paul is infinite in space, time and concern, the god of the ,thenian
contained, limited and circumscribed.
The ;od of Paul is gracious and generous, the god of the ,thenian demanding
and fickle.
<ere, then, are the marks, the criteria of a vibrant spiritual faith - a personal ;od
inviting relationship, an infinitely e*pansive ;od engaging the individual and a
generous ;od imbuing all creation with the air of grace. <ere are the authentic,
the real, the sensible distinctions between religious and spiritual. )heck these off
mentally, is your ;od the ;od of relationship= the ;od of mystery= the ;od of
grace= then you are spiritual wherever, however you worship'
The +od of relationship ,"cts 1-.22,2/,2-0&
",s went through the city, found an altar with the inscription To ,n >nknown
;od' but what you worship as unknown proclaim to you' ;od has made all
nations %such& that they would search for <im, grope for <im and find <im.# <ere
is the spiritual life in process, here is the spiritual on a 5ourney daily to e*perience
;od so that it may be said, " know and am known by ;od#. This is not the
e*clusive prerogative of the so+called new or emergent church as if modern
technology assures access to the heart of ;od4 it can be, it is e*perienced in
ancient liturgy within historic edifice.
The +od of mystery ,1-.20 & "The ;od who made the world and everything in it,
he who is 6ord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human
hands.# <ow pathetic we humans sometimes are as we seek to define, contain
and limit ;od4 we define ;od by our e*perience, our culture, our time, our set,
our class and anything not !uite P6> %people. like us& is discarded with ease
and speed. ?ne authentic mark of the spiritual life, the spiritual community will
always be that of mystery4 the spiritual aches for those moments where sound,
shape and even sense subside and for a moment the holy invades our worship
and this surely , surely, surely is not possessed alone by the ecclesiastically
avant+garde nor the occupants of multi+purpose space.
The +od of (race ,1-.210 & ";od did not make the human race to run errands for
him, as if he couldnt take care of himself. <e makes the creatures4 the creatures
dont make him. Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made
the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living;od is not served by
human hands as though <e needed anything, since <e himself gives to all
mortals life and breath and all things#. The ;od of the spiritual life has everything
to do with grace, favor undeserved and resists all engagement with the world of
religious commerce, of trading with ;od for special favor or merit. t will always
be the voice of the heart rather than the sound of the voice, it will always be the
walls hallowed by praise rather than defined by use that distinguishes breathing
spirituality from deadly religion.
suspect that the ,thenian spiritual smart+set looked with some disdain upon the
hide+bound religion of Paul but he, almost at a stroke, turns the tables with
authentic wisdom, and perceptive alacrity and consummate confidence.
,nd so should we(
$e stand in a spiritual tradition that has thrived for two millennia, and we inhabit
a building that has prospered<ere we have a spiritual tradition that has proposed
for over 7@A years and today %as in 7B@C& is vital, vibrant, contemporary and
relevant. Today our mission is the same as my illustrious predecessor Phillips
2rooks - to know /esus and to make him known.
$e need will not ape nor parrot others by sending postcards of dubious
disparagement nor of odious comparison, .STD,E but we will assume ,
please, a greater confidence in speaking to others, inviting others to share with
us here our e*perience of ;od in community and for community.
So, today announce the beginning ofwe begin a new social phenomenon
marked by a new acronym4 we shed any embarrassed hankeringaffection for
S2.3 and proudly instead raise up raise up a new banner of S,3T, Spiritual
,nd 3eligious Too. To !uote Frank Sinatra - ST,3T SP3D,E.; T<D .D$S.
,men
;o forth and spread the news. ,men.