Sermon preached at The Church of the Holy Trinity, Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia

Sunday May 25th 201, The Re!erend "lan #eale, 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, vital )hristianity is of necessity e*pressed in PowerPoint 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.
0et hundreds of thousands buy into these facile distinctions between the religious and the spiritual
spawning what is now nominated the phenomenon of the S1.2, a social category recogni3ed as
Spiritual 1ut .ot 2eligious4 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, describes the encounter
between the man of /udaeo+)hristian faith and the cosmopolitan, urbane beliefs of the suave ,thenian.
$ith resolute clarity, 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 789::,:>,:8&. ",s went through the city, found an altar with the
inscription To ,n ?nknown ;od' but ;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 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 %789:@&. "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.
Ane 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 not possessed alone by the ecclesiastically avant+garde nor the
occupants of multi+purpose space.
The ;od of grace %789:7&. ";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#.
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, 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 for over 7BC years and today %as in 7DBE& is vital, vibrant, contemporary and relevant. Today
our mission is the same as my illustrious predecessor Phillips 1rooks - to know /esus and to make him
known.
$e need not ape nor parrot others by sending postcards of dubious disparagement nor of odious
comparison, .STF,G we will assume a greater confidence in speaking to others, inviting others to
share with us here our e*perience of ;od in community and for community.
So, today announce the beginning of a new social phenomenon marked by a new acronym4 we shed
any embarrassed hankering for S1.2 and proudly raise up a new banner of S,2T, Spiritual ,nd
2eligious Too. To !uote Hrank Sinatra - ST,2T SP2F,G.; T<F .F$S. ,men