One of my earliest memories of feeling fully spiritually alive beyond the church was in my mother’s kitchen. My family often entertained guests, and the time put into preparing meals was a gesture of hospitality and caregiving.
Ministry candidates talk about them. Moderators share them with session members during meetings. Pastors do sermon series on them. “They” are the Great Ends of the Church — statements crafted in the early 20th century to guide the vision and mission of the Presbyterian Church. But who can recite all six Great Ends? (Be honest.) And what do these Great Ends look like when lived out? Presbyterians Today explores how congregations embrace these guiding principles in ways that show their communities the power of love in action.
I walked away from the church at age 15. I wasn’t unique. Many teens walk away from the church, although it’s more common today than when I did it in the mid-1970s. No matter what the year, teens walk away from church for many reasons — spiritual laziness, lack of inspiration from worship services, worldly distractions, peer pressure (it’s not cool to go to church), the attraction of other beliefs (including agnosticism and atheism). But I walked away for reasons that were a bit different from those of many of my friends.
Why do we so often misunderstand our spirituality? As Presbyterians, we tend to live in our heads as if our bodies were disconnected from our intellectual faith. Our worship is mostly related to what we think and less on how we move. For example, if we see someone dancing in our worship service, we tend to see it as an improper way of worshiping God. I am not advocating for irrationality but rather, to have us think as well as feel, dance, smell, taste and touch, as ways of developing our spirituality.
몸과 마음의 재결합 클라우디오 카르발에스 | Presbyterian Today 이 기사는 2018년 2월/3월호 Presbyterians Today에서 발췌 한 것이다. 왜 우리는 종종 우리의 영성을 오해합니까? 장로교인으로서, 우리는 우리의 육체가 우리의 지적 믿음과… Read more »
