Keep your brain in your spiritual journey

Being the pastor of churches is a huge privilege and an incredible challenge. With 50 years of pastoral experience, I met an unbelievable array of people. Some were especially memorable. So it was with Mary. (Not her real name)

When I met her she was retired, widowed and brilliant. She was a table game player. She was verbally aggressive and took pleasure in winning at pinochle and rook. She was a retired high school teacher and college professor. Her PhD was in geology. She worked for oil companies as a consultant. She visited the congregation that I pastored and kept coming. She never joined, but was almost always present. She gave money and self. She enjoyed hosting church gatherings at her home. She became a close friend. She was a devout Christian believer.

I once asked Mary why she came to the church. Her answer was quick and to the point. “I could no longer attend churches where I was asked to check my brain when I walked through the door.” Mary was a voracious reader. She read philosophy, science and theology. She was Bible literate. Mary was lesbian but married a man, more for convenience than passion. I could tell more about this amazing woman, but I have a point to make. I admired the way Mary intelligently put together science, reason and vital Christian Faith.

In the Sunday morning discussion group that I now attend at my membership church, we are currently reading John Shelby Spong’s latest book, “Unbelievable.” I have long admired Spong’s writings. I have never looked upon him as a scholar. I often disagree with him. He is very well educated and is a good thinker. He has written in a popular, readable style and has a large audience. His great handicap is that he is an Episcopal priest. He is committed to bringing his reasoning powers to his understanding of Christian Faith. “Unbelievable” will be Spong’s last book. He has experienced a significant stroke and needed assistance to complete this latest book.

Spong, Mary and I come from very different backgrounds. Spong is an Episcopalian Bishop. Mary is a scientist with extensive spiritual experience as a Pentecostal. I am an American Baptist, who fully appreciates the Baptist insistence on soul freedom. Our common denominator is the insistence that educated reasoning and thinking be a partner with our vital belief in Jesus Christ and the Christian Faith. I cannot speak for Mary and the way she put together faith and reason. Spong has left us several books out of his rational/spiritual journey. In the very best of Baptist tradition, I can speak only for myself. In my educational and spiritual journey, I have never felt it wise or necessary to put aside my reasoned, rational understandings while being a devout Christian.

Today, Christianity is rapidly growing. While “mainline” Christian churches are shrinking, Pentecostal/Evangelical churches are growing. Their growth is found here in the United States, but across Central and South America and Africa, their numbers are exploding.

Spiritual experiences defy explanation. To the believer, spiritual/religious experiences are real but not necessarily rational, reasonable or explainable. They defy analysis but are no less real. Words and language fail us as we attempt to share. I choose to describe my spiritual life as non-rational. My faith is certainly irrational. My faith does not fit the categories of science, mathematics or reason. In my own journey, I have never felt a conflict between my faith and scientific understandings. These two sides of my life (the spiritual and the rational) carry on an active conversation with one another. Their languages are unknowable to one another. English is my language. If my English vocabulary were expanded and the number of words were multiplied, the language that is used in their conversation would still be inadequate.

I live just west of Palmer, Alaska. I have driven the path from my home to Palmer thousands of time. Palmer sits in a horseshoe of Mountains. Driving east toward Palmer I have never seen the same sky twice. I am aware of the physical dynamics that result in the ever changing sky. There are physical, natural, scientific understandable explanations for what is happening in the eastern sky. My spirit could care less. My eyes see beauty when they see the eastern sky. Beauty is a part of my reality. My spiritual life is similar. It is a part of my reality.

Salvation is about being whole. I cannot imagine being whole without my rational self and my spiritual self. They are partners and are in constant conversation with one another.

Some thoughtful people have concluded that science nullifies spiritual realities. I say the rational life without spiritual realities is doomed to be lifeless. Other good folks are quite certain of the reality of their spiritual experiences and choose to ignore or even deny scientific reality. They also face a doomed existence as they miss the opportunity to live in a fascinating and exciting physical universe.

The real joy of life is found when both are embraced.

The End

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer, Alaska. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net. He is the pastor emeritus of Church of the Covenant in Palmer.