So today,
I want to talk about something that is quite a controversial subject in many circles.
The saying goes that two things we should never discuss,
And those are religion and politics.
Why is that so?
Given it that we've become so set in our way of my way is right,
That we start judging other people's ways.
And as we close ourselves to beautiful opportunities and chances to learn from one another.
In recent years,
We have seen so many people leave organizational churches,
Structured churches,
And almost become upset when you use the word God.
When you talk about Jesus,
The Christ,
You get so many people who identify as spiritual but not religious.
And there's almost this anger towards anything that has structure,
Anything that reminds them of their own experiences and their own pain that they had experienced in their churches.
That raises the question then,
Is there still a place for a structured church,
A structured way of spirituality,
Specifically then in the Christian context?
For me,
The answer is yes.
Many people experience God in many different ways,
And I have come a long way,
Roundabout way,
Back to Catholicism,
Back to ceremony through a church that was very Protestant.
I grew up as a Protestant and only discovered Catholicism a couple of years ago,
Almost 10 years ago.
And in that,
I reconnected with God.
I connected with the power of my spirituality through the ceremonies,
Especially of course,
The Eucharist.
Being able to celebrate the Eucharist on a daily basis is such a powerful and humbling experience.
It is not something that you can easily describe to any person.
But once you start with the prayers,
You are filled with the Holy Spirit,
With Spirit,
And it is almost as if you're not doing the work.
You are offering your body as a vessel and opening up to pray on behalf of those who cannot pray,
For those who are afraid,
For those who don't have a voice at the moment,
For those who are too scared and too hurt.
So for me,
There isn't a massive difference between being spiritual and being religious.
It is just the way that we express our spirituality.
It is a way that we can be spiritual in structure.
And that is not for everybody.
To me,
It is the most beautiful way to know what happens when I light a candle,
To know the reason behind that,
To know the reason for the most beautiful smelling incense that we use.
Everything has a reason and everything helps me to connect to the expression of God that I know.
So as I said,
We find so many people walking away from this because they've been hurt by their churches of institution.
And we oftentimes then find that people float around.
They don't have something to connect to.
One of the most beautiful things that is happening at the moment is that there are orders such as the white-robed monks of St.
Benedict here in South Africa and all across the world that are still Catholic,
That are still Christian.
Instead of being rule-based,
We try and go back to the original teachings of Christ and we follow the commandments of Christ.
We try and live the love for each other and the love for the Lord without question.
So we offer the sacraments to any person who asks for them.
It doesn't matter where you're from,
It doesn't matter what income you have,
What skin colour you are,
It doesn't matter who you love.
All that we do is we recognize that God exists in each and every one of us.
So if that is true,
Who are we then to judge?
Who are we then to say that the way that you express your spirituality,
The way that you express your religion is wrong?
That is not anything that is up to us.
We are all human and we are all equal.
We are all members of this one massive beautiful family.
We are all vessels and children of God because God resides in each of us.
So I oftentimes invite people who say that I don't want anything to do with religion,
I say to them,
Join me in mass and let's celebrate the fact that you are a spiritual being.
Those who do come find it quite enlightening and it's not me saying from a perch,
Let me teach you mere mortals.
Far from that.
For me,
Being able to share the traditions of the order,
The traditions of the church with people and maybe just helping them understand that you can still be religious and spiritual is one of the biggest tasks that I am here to do and to see that you can do that without judgment.
That we can all live together in harmony.
That we all together create a harmony,
A universal harmony in the world.
Such a beautiful and powerful thing.
And I hope that moving forward more and more people will become less angry when they hear the word church.
React less when they hear the word Jesus the Christ.
And we'll just take a moment to acknowledge that we each of us have a different expression of spirituality.
And some of us do still have this expression through very traditional ways and that is beautiful.
And if they are more into different expressions of spirituality,
If they like drumming,
If they want whatever expression they have,
That that is also okay.
And that we can all learn from each other.
There is no right way.
There is no wrong way.
There is just the life that we have.
There is just the current moment.
And in the current moment we can all decide to share in this love.
Because this love to me is all that exists.
Amen.
