New Church Life July/August 2015 | Page 10

n e w c h u r c h l i f e : j u ly / au g u s t 2 0 1 5 principles that matter. They acknowledged the kind of toolbox for dealing with life issues that graduates can get from any school. But they showed how it is dwarfed by the spiritual tool box provided by the Academy – “a spiritual GPS to guide you through this life and the next.” Looking at the teachings of the Church – and New Church education – as the antidote for so much that ails the world, it is easy to get discouraged that our mark and our influence still seem so small. But the Lord is leading the establishment of His Church on earth through His love and providence. Our task is to serve that vision with trust, faith and a commitment to do whatever we can. These schools may be small, and some even struggling for survival, but they are absolutely unique in the world and so are invaluable. So why New Church education? Because it is not about making shoes. It is about making angels. (BMH) organized religion Many people view “organized religion” negatively, but still value “spirituality.” Given the much-discussed defects of churches and their leaders, this is quite understandable. Organized religion does indeed have its problems. And it is relatively easy for an ideal like spirituality to keep its good reputation; it’s when people get together and form an organization to make the ideal more of a presence in the world that things tend to get messy. But the fact remains that spiritual love and wisdom, the essentials of spiritual living, seek expression in uses; and uses need organization to give them form and effectiveness. Spirituality needs organized religion for the same reason a person’s spirit needs a body. Spirituality without an organized body to give it form is likely to be as elusive and short-lived as a will-o’-the-wisp. Individual spirituality needs to be supported, stimulated and augmented by association with others. Just as physical training is aided by gym membership, so spiritual training is aided by church membership. This is why, throughout human history, people have formed religious organizations to represent and nurture their spirituality. Thomas Merton, for example, one of the 20th century’s greatest writers on spirituality, practiced his spirituality (including Zen meditation) while living as a monk in a monastery run by the Catholic Church. The Dalai Lama is another example. He is revered as a paragon of spirituality, but he did not leave his monastery in Tibet, the organizational center of Hinduism in Tibet, voluntarily. And his spiritual work ever since being driven out of Tibet has certainly been organized. 322