Walking A Sacred Path
Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Path
by The Rev. Dr. Lauren Artress
<Prev | Next>
The Great-grandmother's Thread, pg. 16
Spiritual growth can happen anywhere, anytime when we are living
consciously, reflecting on our experience. When our senses are shut
down, when we live on automatic pilot, we miss the opportunity to
grow.
Age
is not a measure of spiritual maturity. A young child with cancer
can develop spiritually much faster than an adult who has
never had such a confrontation, an awakening jolt.
To
be spiritually mature is to grow in an ever-deepening sense of
compassion, lessening
our fear of change and of the differences between us. Spiritual
maturity also means knowing the vicissitudes of our personality
as it experiences
the Light of the Divine. The
challenge the church faces is to offer spiritual nurturance within,
as well as outside, the religious service. Many seekers stay
in a traditional worship setting briefly but leave the church
with disappointment, feeling the lack of spiritual nourishment.
The church is unable to help them with the transformations of
their own lives.
Spiritual
seekers feel stultified by what seems to be a static and dogmatic
tradition. This is what the church
gives them week after week, instead of the treasurers held
within its mystical teachings.
The
beautiful flow and repeatable structure
of church liturgy is designed for them to return to again
and again. It is meant to nourish the soul. But it is not meeting
the spiritual needs of our times.
<Prev | Next>
Excerpts from Walking A Sacred Path ©1995 by Dr. Lauren Artress used with permission from the author. To purchase a copy of Walking a Sacred Path, visit the non-profit bookstore Sacred Path Books & Art. This link is provided as a service to explorefaith.org visitors and registered users.
|
