Doug McMahon

A Definition of Spirituality

A number of years ago, while in my hometown of Ocean Grove, NJ, auditing a D.Min. course at Drew @ Ocean Grove, I heard this definition of spirituality: spirituality is a way of being in the world.  It was like a light going on for me.  This simple definition helped me to express my spirituality as something that is earthy and ordinary, and, therefore very real.  It is not something that is "so heavenly minded that it is no earthly good."

Spirituality is a way of being in the world.  It is not the only way. Some people live in the world and deny their spirituality.  But living a life in the spirit is lived in a body, on the earth and in very ordinary ways, every day.  During a sermon, I once told the congregation that the life of the spirit always involves the body.  I said, "if that doesn't make sense to you,then please feel free to attend worship next week without your body.  Just attend the worship service and leave your body at home!"  The life of the spirit is always a life that is an embodied life.

Some people tend to think of the life of the spirit as something beyond the body or away from the body.  But spirituality is holistic. It involves body, spirit, soul, mind and heart.  It is a life connected to God, people and all of creation.  In this world, one cannot be a spiritual person without a body.  We cannot be a spiritual person in isolation from other people. We need each other.  Whether we acknowledge it or not, we are connected to the beauty of the created world.   

Spirituality is a way of being in the world. Jesus taught us that the two greatest commandments are to love the Lord God with all your heart and soul, mind and strength, and, to love your neighbor as yourself. Loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourself, requires us to take this earthly life seriously.

To define spirituality as a way of being in the world is to also acknowledge that how we live our lives in this world is important to God.  Spiritual practices cannot be disconnected from earthly practices of mercy, peace, and justice.  The Hebrew prophet Isaiah said that fasting, prayer and worship that does not result in sharing our bread with the hungry, providing shelter to the homeless and doing justice in the workplace is not the true worship of God. 

What I do--or don't do-- with my life is a spiritual matter.  The four gospels tell us how Jesus lived in the world.  When our way of being in the world is modeled after his way of being in the world, we experience peace and joy.  He has shown us the way. 

Remembering Those Green Reusable Bags!

About a year and a half ago, long before most people were carrying those little green bags into the grocery store my sister in law gave us four of those reusable grocery bags. The leaders of her congregation, Temple Kol Ami Emanu-El, were encouraging members to be a part of the Green Team.  The Green Team was working to help make their temple more green, finding ways to contribute to a more sustainable earth by using green products and practices throughout their temple.  On the side of the bags are the words, "It's a Mitzvah!"  The term mitzvah means commandment and has also come to express any act of human kindness.  Being a good steward of the earth, indeed, is an act of human kindness.

It has taken my family over a year to consistently remember to bring our reusable bags into the grocery store.  When we get into the grocery and realize we have forgotten the bags, we face a big decision: "Do we go all the way back out to the car and get the bags or do we just forget about it and use paper or plastic this time?"  Some times we decided to go out and get the bags and other times we just used paper or plastic. 

But now we have a better answer to this dilemma.  While my wife, Robin, was visiting a close friend, Davina, in Tennessee last month, they went to the grocery store having forgotten to carry in reusable bags.  But Davina had a third way to avoid the old dilemma of either going back to the car or using paper or plastic. Davina's answer to the question, "paper or plastic?" was "neither."  She asked the grocery clerk to just put the groceries back into the cart without bags after they were scanned.  "My bags are in the car," she said.  "I'll put the groceries into the bags when I get out to my car."

What a great idea! A small thing--but a great idea.  We've already done this a number of times since Robin has gotten back from Tennessee.  Good stewardship isn't just about sermons and lectures, its finding ways, daily, to live out simple practices of good stewardship.  It's a mitzvah!

Caring for God's Creation

Enjoying nature doesn't, always, come naturally to me.  I believe that a day at Wrigley Field, in Chicago's near North Side, is a great way to enjoy the outdoors, or, even a day at Tropicana Field where the air conditioning under the dome is always 72 degrees.  I do love the beach with a comfortable chair and book.  I enjoy swimming in the ocean and an occasional ride on a mountain bike through the woods.  As a teenager, playing basketball on the playground with no grass in sight didn't bother me.  No grass to mow? What could be better?  I'm very comfortable running on concrete and working in an urban coffee shop.  

But that doesn't excuse me from looking at the bigger picture and what we have done with God's good earth in the past 100 years or so.  I have always been supportive of environmental justice, protecting parks and forest preserves, recycling and other measures of caring for creation.  I would rather invest in more public transportation than pave more and wider Interstate Highways. But I've become convinced that caring for creation is a much bigger crisis which we must address.  It's not only a matter of survival, but the condition of planet earth is, also, the result of our spiritual crisis.  I'm seeing the environment with new eyes.

When I was a student-pastor in Chicago, many years ago, I helped organize a field trip for our church youth group.  We visited a pumpkin patch on a farm in Indiana about 2 hours drive from our inner city church.  It was amazing to see the new world of farming through the eyes of teenagers who had never traveled out of the city limits of Chicago.   Most adults--including me-- assume we really understand the world and other people.  We assume we understand the earth--the land we share together as a diverse and too often divided population.  Furthermore, we think we know God.  In the grand scheme of things, we really don't know much!  Aren't we all beginners in understanding our Creator and our life together on planet earth?

I am trying to see the earth, other people and God our Creator through new eyes.  God and God's creation are so much bigger and more diverse than I ever assumed.  The further I journey down the road, the more I understand how much I am a beginner in faith and in life itself.  As people of faith, caring for creation is one of the ways that we can participate in the reconciliation God is bringing to us and all of creation.  

In Romans 8, we read, "For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.  We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time."

When the Bible speaks about salvation and reconciliation it speaks not of disembodied souls to save, but saving and reconciling whole people and the whole of creation.  Caring for creation is one important way to participate in this salvation and in this ministry of reconciliation.  How can we become better partners in this ministry of reconciliation?  How can we better care for creation?  God's gifts of faith, hope and love bring peace and reconciliation to our relationships with God, our neighbors and even planet earth itself.

 

Spiritual Geography of Florida, Part Two

"Now skyscrapers and superhighways are carved through the heart of Florida, building subdivisions while the swamps are drained, making room for people and amusement parks. It's like watching someone you love die slow. They're killing her one piece at a time."  

These comments, about the state of Florida, were spoken by JJ Grey, leader of Mofro, a Jacksonville based rock band-- more specifically, a southern-fried swamp funk band.  You can read more about the band here. 

Why do we more frequently hear rock stars say things about caring for creation than church preachers?  Speaking of Florida, JJ says, "It's like watching someone you love die slow."  Why don't we hear more preachers lament our carelessness with the earth!  God gave us the planet earth as a gift.  What if we used the resources of the earth as if they really were a gift of God?  What does the condition of the planet earth say about the condition of our hearts and souls?  It seems that Rock stars like JJ, or Bono of U2, have a clearer understanding of social justice and stewardship than do many religious leaders.

Now I am the first to say that I enjoy living in they city.  I enjoy being in downtown St. Pete, and, I recognize that I use roads that have been paved and live and work in buildings that were built on Florida soil.  But I would hope that we could find more creative ways to care for creation while still providing places for people to live in urban areas and throughout our state of Florida.  It doesn't have to be either/or, but it could be both/and.  We can both build safe and enjoyable places to live and work and care for creation.

 

Florida: a Spiritual Geography

Today, I would like to ask you to comment below on the topic of the Spiritual Geography of Florida.  Now I know that you out of state readers are probably laughing and thinking of hanging chads, messed up elections and humidity.  But I am serious about the topic.  Many years ago, I was impressed with Dakota: A Spiritual Geography by Kathleen Norris, therefore, I would like to begin an on-line discussion of Florida.

The sub-title of my blog is "my spiritual journey in St. Petersburg."  While reading the new catalog for Ghost Ranch that recently arrived in my mail box, I thought about the spiritual geography of New Mexico and South Dakota.  And, then, I began thinking about the spiritual geography of the land where I have now lived since 1991, Florida.  What are the connections between the land where we dwell and our spirituality?

What I would like to propose is that you, my readers, write about the land of Florida with brief comments about the spiritual marks of our land. Once a week, I plan on inviting readers to respond to questions like the following:  What comes to mind when you think of Florida and spiritual geography?  Who do you think of when you think of Florida?  Who gets forgotten by most people?  What makes up the spiritual geography of our state?  What is the connection between caring for creation and your spiritual journey?  Whether you are a tourist or a resident, please click "comments" below and participate in the conversation.  Where do you see the Spirit in your journey through this land of Florida?