I'm religious. I'm a Christian. I follow and love Jesus. I make no apologies for this. I believe we need to recover the word, religion. Let me explain...

Religion is bad when it justifies and exercises violence.

Religion is bad when it produces hypocrisy.

Religion is bad when it fosters spiritual pride.

Religion is bad when it becomes an end in itself.

But, religion can also be good. In fact, it can become necessary. I want to recover the word.

What is religion? I believe religion is meant for how we pass on our faith from generation to generation. We must do this. It's what we're tasked to do. I am a Christian. I want Christianity to be possible for my kids and their generation; and their kids' generation. 

Christian religion is the spiritual practices of prayer, worship, scripture, confessing creeds, baptism, communion, and social justice. 

Christian religion is what binds us to the Christian faith. Only by the practices of Christian religion will we survive the ever pervasive secularism that threatens Western culture today.

The Enlightenment gave voice to comments I still hear today:

"I'm not into religion, I'm only into Jesus..."

"It's about relationship, not religion..."

"I'm not religious, I'm spiritual..."

"Jesus didn't come to start a religion..." 

Religion can be bad. I know this. Nothing is as bad as when religion has gone bad. In fact, it's the worst. A quick review of the current pulse of Islam will show you how ugly religion can get. Religion that blesses, justifies, and condones violence and war is the very hell of bad religion. But it can also be good.

I believe the main goal of religion is - humility.

I started asking myself the question, "How will my kids live in a vibrant, deep and meaningful faith 20 years from now? What must I be doing?"

Christian religion binds us to the Christian faith. It is how we are formed.

Why do I want to practice this? I want to attach myself ultimately to Jesus. Jesus is the pinnacle. What Jesus you say? The Jesus of the Gospels. The Jesus of the Bible. Well, where did the Bible come from? Did it float down from the sky? No. It was collected, written and canonized by the Church. I believe in Jesus Christ above all other things. I believe in him because of what he did in my life. I can't prove it, I can also testify to it - but also, you cannot disprove it. I've been captured and fascinated by him. 

The reason I can believe in Jesus is because of the presence of the Church in the world. It was the Church, who through its practices, has passed on the faith from generation from generation. All the way to me. That's the goal of religion. The true task of Christian religion is to pass on the beauty of Jesus Christ to the next generation. Because of the faithful presence of the Church that has survived for 2,000+ years - that made it possible for me to encounter Jesus. So it causes me to have respect for the Church. 

I want my kids to be Christians. So I pray that prayer every day. I pray, "Lord, bless Emerson and Charlotte. Protect them. Guide Cara and I. Give us wisdom. Help us to make Christianity possible for them in their generation." And I need Christianity to help me with this.

 

Was Jesus religious? Yes. He was Jewish. He was formed as a Jew. He prayed religious prayers. He observed religious feast days. He adhered to a religious diet. He attended religious gatherings weekly. He read and studied religious texts. Jesus was totally against religious hypocrisy and religious abuse for sure. But he was a religious man. 

Did Jesus come to start a religion? No. He already had one - he was Jewish. He was formed that way. He didn't come to start a religion, but the affect of the Word made flesh, the incarnation - in his life, death, burial and resurrection - it was inevitable that a religion would grow up around it - in an attempt to maintain the story - the Good News - and pass it on from generation to generation.

Sociologists tell us that here in the Western part of the world (especially the United States), that we face the inevitable wave of secularism that threatens to sweep us away. We are told that we are following in the footsteps of Europe. Maybe we are, I don't know. But if they are correct, the Church must be prepared to face it. How will we? By being tethered to the ancient roots of our faith. If we don't, we will not survive. American civil religion and consumer Christianity will be swept away. It was never going to survive. We need something deeper. I believe we need the Great Tradition.

The way I have connected to the Great Tradition is through liturgy. I follow a liturgy, or a track of prayer, daily. Liturgy means, "the work of the people". It is the structures and forms of prayer and worship. We all have a liturgy. The Church provides us with the time tested, vetted, and theologically sound liturgy that is absolutely trans-formative. The prayers provide a track for us to journey down during our time of prayer. A track takes us somewhere. 

But some protest, "liturgy is dead"...to that I say:

Liturgy is neither dead or alive, it's either true or false. What's dead or alive is the person praying. If we can pair a true liturgy with a live person, we are on our way towards spiritual formation.

We cannot properly form ourselves as Christians, by ourselves. It's impossible to do it alone. Christianity is not a do-it-yourself project. If it is, it's destined to fail. Christianity is a beautiful gift from the Church. It is a received faith. We don't make it up. I trust the historic Church to tell me what to believe. And it's passed on by the practices of religion. These spiritual practices are designed to form us into Christ-like people. To be properly formed we need to trust time tested liturgies and prayers - to help form our own prayers and requests.

I teach about all of this in Prayer School. It changed my life. You can sign up for the next one on September 7 & 8 here:

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Grace and peace,

BT