Lent 5 B – Spiritual But Not Religious
Dear Partner in Preaching,
If there was ever a text for the “spiritual but not religious” crowd, this may be it.
Before jumping into John, however, perhaps a word or two on SBNR is in order. In general, we use this term rather broadly to indicate variously those who no longer affiliate with religion, the “nones” who seem open to spirituality defined broadly, and those who actually checked the SBNR box on a survey. Which means that SNBR can mean almost anything, and at times seems to encompass a little bit of everything. So here’s how I think of it:
SBNR denotes those folks who are indeed open to a sense of mystery, curious about the divine, wonder about God and the spiritual life…but have not found those inclinations and needs met by traditional religious institutions. In this sense, they remind me of the Greeks in today’s passage. They don’t come to Philip asking for information about Jesus. They don’t inquire about a new member’s class or ask to join a committee. They don’t request a statement of beliefs before joining. They simply want to see Jesus. To really see him, person to person, face to face.
Interestingly, they make this request on the way to a religious celebration: Passover. But even though they have probably grown up religious, right now they want to see Jesus. I have no idea if they were dissatisfied with the faith of their parents or if they were looking forward to another joyous Passover celebration but also intensely curious about all they’d heard about Jesus. And to be honest, I don’t think it really matters. What they want just now is an encounter with, and experience of, Jesus.
Which brings me to my question: If those Greeks were to show up in our congregations today, would they be granted their heart’s desire? I don’t say this to put you (or me) on the defensive. Of course we are preaching Jesus each week and we craft and lead worship that we hope will mediate an experience of God for those who gather. No, I ask for another reason. Let me explain:
Thirty or so years ago, pollsters interested in the practice of religion in America began to ask folks to self identify in one of four categories: religious but not spiritual, spiritual but not religious, both, neither. The big swing thirty years later, as you might guess, is between the first two options. Whereas a large number of folks used to indicate they were “religious but not spiritual” and a much smaller one check of SNBR, that ratio has flipped. Which means, among other things, that most of our congregational practices and patterns (including how we preach) were shaped for, with, and by a generation of people who were pretty clear that while they really liked religious practices, they weren’t necessarily all that interested in a spiritual experience of God.
Which is why I wonder at times whether our carefully crafted (and largely scripted) liturgies, our manuscript driven sermons, and our performance-oriented worship reach those who simply – and perhaps desperately – want to see Jesus.
Again, please don’t get me wrong: Can manuscript preaching and classic liturgy mediate a living encounter with the Lord? Of course they can…and regularly do, for us and for many of our people. At the same time, I think we can argue that they aren’t reaching a whole lot of people, people that we love and care about and wish were with us. So I wonder how much of “the way we’ve always done” we’d be willing to change or adapt to make room for the SBNR who are our children, grandchildren, and friends. And I wonder if we’d be willing to enter into genuine conversation with folks who used to attend but don’t, or who we’d love to see come but haven’t, in order to ask what might make a Sunday morning experience more meaningful to them. Would be we be willing even to entrust our worship planning to our youth, for instance – not just once a year so we can pat them on the head – but regularly, hoping and trusting that we might all be drawn more deeply into the faith by figuring out together how we can help people see Jesus in and through our Sunday morning gathering.
Well, if you’re at all interested in asking these questions and starting such a conversation, this Sunday’s passage might be a good time to get the ball rolling. If you do so, however, I’d suggest paying attention to one more thing. Interestingly, it’s hard to know whether these Greeks actually get their wish. While their question sets the transition to Jesus’ passion in motion, John is unclear about what happens to them.
What John is very clear about, however, is the kind of Jesus they – and we – will see if we really look. Because upon hearing this request, Jesus immediately looks ahead to the cross. The hour he speaks about, the glory he prays for, the fulfillment of his mission and destiny he anticipates – all of this revolves around his cross, his obedient embrace of sacrificial love to the point of death.
Which might tell us SBNR and RBNS alike quite a bit about this Jesus: the point of faith in Jesus isn’t just faith, or comfort, or satisfying spiritual desires. No, the point of following Jesus is that we might be drawn more deeply into the kingdom of God through our love for, service to, and sacrifice on behalf of those around us. Jesus comes to demonstrate God’s strength through vulnerability, God’s power through what appears weak in the eyes of the world, and God’s justice through love, mercy and forgiveness. And he calls those who would follow him to the very same kind of life and love.
Is this the Jesus the Greeks want to see? Is it the Jesus we want to see? I have no idea. But I do know that the Jesus who reveals the heart of our loving God by going to the cross is the Jesus we get, and the Jesus who is raised again on the third day to demonstrate that love is more powerful than hate and life more powerful than death is the Jesus we are called to preaching. This is the one, in the end, who has promised to draw all of us – SBNR, RBNS, both, and neither – to him.
Please know, Dear Partner, just how grateful I am that you have given your life to sharing this very message. Thank you. Even more, thank God for you.
Yours in Christ,
David
This was insightful. Never looked at it in this light. But I know the longing of wanting more than simply going through the motions. Thank you for the perspective.
Dear Pastor David,
Thank you so much for tackling this topic. For many decades I believed myself and proclaimed myself a SBNR. For me it was a way to practice what I would call today a “lite faith.” For me being SBNR meant that I was a proponent of salvation by works.
As time has moved on I found myself at a “decision point”, this was before declaring myself Lutheran, I had to move from the penumbric gray area of knowledge of Christ into the full brilliance of his Saving Grace.
When I surrendered to Christ the veneer of SBNR peeled away and I moved into full Faith driven by Grace. The “recovery” is not complete yet, But it is moving along “as the spirit wills.”
Your comments and the accompanying text are of great value to me in this process. Thank you again, Stephen.
Thank you for sharing the meaning of this text from deep within your heart. I am a retired pastor and sadly I don’t think the pastor of the congregation where I am a member will say a word about this gospel, and if she does it could be hard to see the connection between what Christ was facing and the Good News we need to hear — right now!
Pastor Marnie, please don’t don”t assume the worst about your colleague, pray for her and talk to her. I would imagine she senses your disapproval and that it is not helping her in her ministry. Peace to you… and to her…
In walking with this text and the entire gospel for this week (I was moved yesterday to read the whole gospel of John just to grasp what these few verses talked about), I’ve come across something that I am still pondering.
What if there was an additional reason we inscribed “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” in pulpits- namely, ONLY inscribed it there? What I mean is, if we inscribe it there, and not over the doorways of the sanctuary, if it isn’t in the mission and vision of the congregation, if it is ONLY in the pulpit and not in the hearts of people… perhaps we can send the message however unintentionally, that the only way to see Jesus is to come to this place, experience this person talking about this book, and we’re all okay to put that back down, leave that at the pulpit, and come back to it 167 hours and 45 minutes later.
By placing the ability to experience Jesus THERE, have we unintentionally walled off our own ability to experience Jesus elsewhere?
I guess for me, I’m circling around the concept not of “which Jesus” do we/they/the Greeks desire to see, but WHERE is it that we can see Jesus? Certainly not just in the pulpit.
Joh Wolf, you stated what I was wondering also, it would be fitting to have ‘We wish to see Jesus’ written on all of our hearts, not just pulpits.
David,
I understand your observation that scripted liturgies can mediate Jesus, but are perhaps not. However, hasn’t there been a rash (wave?) of articles, blogs, whatever that indicate liturgy is what is drawing some generations BACK to the church? It is something that isn’t found just everywhere. I think “the ones we love who used to be here” are not absent because of the presence or lack of liturgy.
My contention is they haven’t seen Jesus in the long-standing relationships with still-attenders (even if or especially because still attending has no passion or significance).
I think it muddier/messier than adaptive liturgical offerings.
I found it fascinating in reading this text with my Women’s Bible study group this morning (Wednesday) that I had never noticed if the Greeks got to see Jesus or not. And, here you are mentioning it as well. SBNR, RBNS, both, neither – seeking…and finding what? The end of your comments tell all…
Thanks again for thought-provoking, soul-searching words that hopefully lead us all to the cross!
A few months ago I had a conversation with an older gentleman in my congregation; he’s probably in his 80s. He said something along the lines of…”you know there’s not many young people in church, but there’s not many young people in town any more. They’ve moved on. When I look around I see how things have changed and how they have remained the same. I had 25 people in my confirmation class, in this church. I am the only one still attending church. All but two are still alive; they have a good excuse for not attending.” His point was, we spend a lot of time, energy, and money focusing on getting youth in the doors, but what about the older crowd who used to attend, and no longer do.
I get frustrated with the conversation that the church is dying, that we need to reach out to the millennials, and we need youth in the church (this is a cyclical discussion that happens with every generation). THE church will exist; it’s God’s after all. Churches have a fine line to walk between “existing for members” and “existing for non-members”. It certainly is not easy.
I found myself wondering what it must be like to hear the responses of churchgoers when SBNR people inquire as to what congregational life is all about. And I can imagine a whole host of answers – descriptions of committee work, traditional Sunday School, potluck dinners, youth ministry fundraisers, etc., etc. You could cut and paste all of the previous answers up against just about any civic/service organization and they would fit rather nicely with the mission of the Rotary, Kiwanis, Elks. And those are all fine organizations. How risky it is for all of us marked with the cross of Christ to point beyond ourselves and say (as found in the beginning of John’s gospel): Come and see. Come and see Jesus. Because “seeing” Jesus means, among other things, opening ourselves to be the lens through which Jesus can be seen.
Thank you for your faithful exposition of this text.
At least two questions come to mind. 1) Who is the Jesus being sought? 2) Who is the Jesus we can show them? Okay, I said at least. 3) Is either of these the real Jesus? After centuries of being told who Jesus is, with appropriate titles to go along with it, it seems those tried and true answers can only be a starting point. And while we look ahead to Easter with the end of Lent drawing near, the rest of the story is still being written in the lives of disciples, now and yet to be. Someone said an invitation to communion, “Come and receive what you are, go and be what you have received.” And over the door on the way out can be posted, “Show them Jesus.”