As we move into Sunday, the Washington Post had this article on Anne Graham Lotz, Billy Graham's daughter. This section caught my eye:
Lotz, 61, has been staying busy as an evangelist and author in her own right. Her new book focuses on the biblical story of Abraham. She said Abraham, considered the father of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, did not have a religion but a relationship with God.
"Religion is, I think, one of the biggest hindrances to finding God," Lotz said. "God described Abraham as a friend. . . . I want to know God in a relationship that one day he will describe as a friendship. God loves you and wants to know you. He's calling you to a personal relationship."
Christians too often feel their faith is fulfilled when they are saved and attend church, Lotz said. "That's such a shallow understanding," she said. A relationship can begin at church, she said, but it can't end there. "Being a Christian is a personal relationship with God, a thriving relationship, based on communication."
The problem, she said, is that too many people are "too reliant" on the church and that too many Christians "have fallen into a convenient pattern of allowing their church experience to be their sum total of experiencing God."
Growing up in the Graham house, Lotz said, she learned to keep Sunday as a day set apart. But people shouldn't rely on a kind of Sundays-only spirituality, she said. "If something happened and you could no longer go to church, if you were homebound and lost your friends at church, how strong would your relationship with God be?"
What do you think? Do you agree that religion one of the biggest hindrances to finding God? If so, what does that statement mean? Do you think attending church has become a convenient pattern for people? If so, what does that statement mean?
I know it has become en vogue to criticize churches and religion as somehow being the culprits in people's lack of spiritual experience. Yet, we must admit that anything can become a hindrance to deeper spiritual experiences. I would still say, however, that gathering as a family of faith can indeed be an important time in one's spirtual experience.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
For Reflection
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3 comments:
This is great! One of the best postings ever. I did not know of any Graham children besides Franklin, but it turns out that Anne is a real blessing too.
Church and fellowship should enhance the individual relationship with God, but not replace or displace it.
I used to say that the worst thing to happen to God was religion. I didn't think of this in a personal spiritual way, I always thought that because of the ways that God seems to be distorted when individuals have power over a large group of people. Examples that come to mind are people like the pope, who can use there power to sway people using God as the emotional pull.
The trouble with relying only on one's own hearing of the "small quiet voice' is that the God you understand and communicate with is limited by your own thought. It is with the interaction with others in a community of faith which broadens the appreciation for God. While prayer and meditation are part of the spiritual disciplines, so also are hospitality, sharing and giving - spiritual life is both solitary and corporate. To stretch as a Christian is to work in the areas which don't come easily. There is a discipline about a weekly service which helps focus the spiritual life. God is far bigger than the church and isn't totally contained there but can be found there as well as in nature, in family, and in the 'still small voice." A Christian should look in many places to find the divine.
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