I was considering a recent sermon I attended this Sunday. The Preacher had mentioned that there are some who believe the idea of "preaching" is archaic. That perhaps it is no longer needed, after all he said, "Where else do you go where someone tells you how to live your life?"
Of course I immediately thought to myself, "everywhere". It is really true too. In today's consumer driven, media filled world, there are people telling us what to buy, what to wear, how to eat, literally how to live, everyday. The human mind, specially the Western mind, is one that is frankly fairly easily distracted. We are not reminded to be mindful of our living practices, instead we are encouraged to lose ourselves in the circus that is Western Civilization. As the Christmas season approaches, (it seems to get earlier every year) we see this even more. Spirtualization has been turn into commercialization.
I believe in truth, we need more "preaching". The problem is every Sunday is not really enough. It's not that we need to be reminded about God, or his love, or the things Jesu did, but we need to be regularly "reattuned" to our own spirtuality. So we stop seeing the world as just "people and products" but as a paradise filled with our brothers and sisters, with family. So that we focus not on Coke or Pepsi, or Intel vs AMD, but instead we listen to the birds and smell the flowers. There are those who belief for every disease, there is a cure out in nature that just needs to be found. In that same mindset, the very air we breathe holds the key to our escape from stress and anger.
I believe this is where the importance of preaching comes in. However I don't believe an hour on a Sunday is enough. I do wish we could find ways to bring the practice of mindful spirituality to the masses on a more consistant basis. To encourage and teach how to intergrate it more into our daily lives. It seems to me it is one of the key things we have lost in our race to industrialization and the building of a computerized civilization.
My Father once told me that he believed that technology has advanced faster then the human race can cope with it. I believe there was some great wisdom there. I don't think we need to move backwards though, I think we need to take more advantage of technology to bring spirituality back into the mainstream.
You'll note I use the words spirituality and not religion. Religion in my mind is merely the organized ceremony of historical and philosophical belief. Spirtuality is the day-to-day concious practice of working with the Universe and those within it. It is gaining happiness from mindful, compassionate living, it is being aware of each moment and it's importance, not just to ourselves but to all things.
In todays world, with so many people telling us how to live, I believe it is important to be reminded why.
Just some thoughts I wanted to share with you.
