I'm a spiritual person

Mark Hucknall, chancellor of Lincoln Cathedral writes:

Any member of a church community will have heard it hundreds of times: "I'm spiritual but not religious," or “You don’t have to go to church to be a Christian.”

A Google search yields 1,360,000 results for that sentence. The statement is revealing, not just for its implied disdain for the life of religious communities, but also for its reduction of "spirituality" to a personality trait. To say that "I" am "spiritual" here is on par with saying that "I" am patient or thoughtful or generous; it is a description that is all about "me".

The celebration of Pentecost invites us to reflect on the spirit (or spirituality) as something other than a trait attached to certain individual personalities (and presumably not to others). In the context of biblical tradition, spirituality, instead, is a gift poured out by the Holy Spirit, one that astonishes and empowers in the present even as it anticipates God's future triumph.

Listen to the reading from Romans this morning. Throughout this passage, as elsewhere, the pronouns are plural; "we" not "I" and "you" is plural rather than singular. And repeatedly the language is that of reception: "you received" rather than "you achieved". Far from being our possession or an individual personality trait, Paul's "spirituality" is a gift, a gift to the community, and a gift that does not exempt believers but plunges them right back into the world's sufferings and pains, empowered and confident in the future God is bringing about.

In the incarnation of the Son, God and a human being become united. In the out pouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, this uniting is extended to all believers as the Spirit dwells within us. But this gift is common to all, is not for us merely as individuals. The gift of the Holy Spirit should unite us with one another, creating a new community. The gift should also turn us outward so that as a community our real focus is upon those outside, and our energy spent on building up the community of the church is to enable us as a community to serve the world and bear witness to the Gospel in the world.

Mark Hocknull, Chancellor of Lincoln Cathedral