Last week’s post focused on the endless expressions of the church. Cultures, traditions, languages, theology, worship style, history, even church architecture all contribute to differences. Thank goodness.
A friend mentioned something I spoke about in a small group years ago. It is an example of different cultural contexts and makes a nice follow up to last week. So here goes.
I have a love/hate relationship with the phrase “spiritual growth.”
If grace exists, is offered, and is accepted, then the separation between us and God is bridged. Right? Let’s say right. Then it’s not logical to think spiritual growth is a relevant expression. Growth toward … what? To get closer to God? How can you get closer to God if you are already living by grace? God is right there next to us all the time. Growing closer isn’t actually an option. Becoming aware is, but that’s quite a different expression (and activity) than growing closer.
Our culture is obsessed with growth. From the economy to our personal well being, from knowledge to athletic achievements. We all want to “grow” in some way or another. This cultural bias toward growth slips into our spiritual reasoning.
Here’s how Richard Rohr put it:
“How does transformation actually and concretely happen? Ladder-climbing Western culture, and the clinging human ego, made the Gospel into a message of spiritual advancement—ascent rather than descent. We hopefully do advance in wisdom, age, and grace (Luke 2: 40), but not at all in the way we thought. Jesus got it right! He brilliantly and personally taught the way of the cross and not the way of climbing. We come to God much more by doing things wrong than by doing things right. God absolutely leveled the human playing field by using our sins and failures to bring us to divine union. This is surely the most counterintuitive message of the Gospels—so counterintuitive that it largely remains hidden—in plain sight—to this day.”
I like the phrase “ladder-climbing Western culture” here. And I appreciate pushing the pendulum the other way – you can connect with God even through our failures. That doesn’t exactly lend itself to the idea of spiritual “growth” if you think about it. Nobody ever says, “Hey, I lied twice, stole from my employer, ran a red light, and didn’t tip the barrista today. I feel closer to God than ever!”
But I get Rohr’s point. We can find God in those moments if we are willing to look, confess, and live by grace.
The point here is not to argue about how grace works or how our spirituality is shaped. It’s to point out how the phrase “spiritual growth” is anchored in our cultural context. It’s an example of the diverse expressions and ideas of the church attempting to be relevant to a specific audience. If you want to connect with our Western culture, talk about growth.
Which, whatever you might think of the phrase, is kinda cool.
Photo by Samantha Garrote from Pexels