Beginning again
I have written blog posts for churches that I served for about half the time I was in ministry. Now that I’m retired, and at the encouragement of many people who read those posts in the past, this will be the venue for me to continue that writing.
Throughout my time as a parish pastor, American churches have been in a long, slow decline. In the 21st century, that decline has broadened and accelerated. Congregations are getting fewer, older, and smaller. Last year, for the first time, Gallup found that the number of adults who said they were members of a religious community fell below 50%. Sociologists agree that the speed of this change represents an unprecedented shift in our culture.
At the same time, increasing numbers of people say their spiritual life is important and healthy, apart from any formal religious activity or identity. Those identifying as “spiritual, not religious” are now a recognized and significant part of our cultural landscape. Not surprisingly, in the growing uni-culture of today’s world, similar trends are found almost everywhere.
After watching these developments for some forty years, it’s obvious that this transformation is our new reality. The so-called “world religions” that arose from ancient civilizations are all long past their sell-by dates. As institutions, fewer and fewer people are interested in the identity and structure traditional religions used to provide.
But that is not to say that they do not have teachings and traditions with continuing and transcendent value. Contemporary spirituality is eclectic. It has borrowed from all the great religions but especially from their minority, dissenting, and often persecuted spiritual streams. It also makes use of philosophy, science, and indigenous spiritual traditions.
Where is all this going? No one knows, which is unsettling but also exciting. And hopeful. The world is experiencing turmoil as it never has before. The crises we face—global warming, gross economic inequality, deterioration of institutions of all kinds, international conflicts, and so on—all seem intractable yet also somehow interconnected. In the varieties of spiritual experience today there is a shared awareness that somehow human life on this planet needs to change, and soon.
What that means, how it can happen, and how this relates to our personal lives as well as to existing practices and institutions are the kinds of things I want to explore here. I look forward to your joining me in this reflection and discovery.