Spiritual practices and changes

Do you have a spiritual practice?
Many people who meditate, or do yoga, read their religious publications, or pray regularly do.

Many people go to a gathering place on Saturday or on Sunday (and or Wed or other times) as part of their spiritual practice.  Many people stay at home and never go into churches or synagogues or temples except for rites of passage (christening, marriage, funerals.)

I had a great spiritual inspiration with a women's program honoring my ancestors last Sunday afternoon.  I frequently feel spiritual when out in the woods in the mountains around me. Going to church/temple etc. isn't necessary for spiritual practice, after all.  Church is good for a community of a central group that believes in similar beliefs.  And it sure can offer inspiration some of the time.

I shared my Christian friends' joy at the Oct 31st 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s nailing his 95 Theses to the door of Wittenberg’s Castle Church, kicking off the Protestant Reformation   If you haven't watched it, try to find the PBS movie "Martin Luther: The Idea that Changed the World,” " which tells a lot of interesting facts about his life.

This was the beginning of moving spiritual messages out of the hands of just the clergy, and into those of common people, enabling the rituals to be said not only in Latin, and eventually allowing the Bible to be printed not only in Latin. The power of the Pope in Rome was in many ways just political, not spiritual.  Common people were thus given access to the spiritual messages of Christianity.  A few years later, my ancestor, Rev. John Rogers,  helped translate the Bible into English.

My own personal spiritual interests weren't really served in any direct way through the Reformation, though all of Protestant sects were indirectly an offshoot of this.  My church affiliation has been the Unitarian-Universalists for the last 47 years, another branch from the protestants following Martin Luther's Theses.  The Unitarians and Universalists had women ministers for over a century.

But there were other avenues that the Lutherans opened up the way for tolerance in their own congregations.

This week the Lutherans celebrated Elizabeth Platz, who became the first female Lutheran pastor in 1970.  That was a pretty good step for women. But even more important was " the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (as) a leader in welcoming gay members and clergy — even though that caused hundreds of congregations to leave, in search of less open churches. Personally, I enjoyed working for ECLA in providing counseling in nursing homes in Florida for several years.

But back to spiritual practices...for each of us, there's that inner connection to our highest guide, whether we call it God or Goddess or the Universe of all possibilities.  For those who don't believe there's an external source of guidance, who believe the spirit comes from within themselves, that's also alright.  I'm open to many ideas about how life goes on.

I do think it's important for each of us to have some kind of spiritual practice.  Just my opinion.

Today's Quotes:

My religion is nature. That’s what arouses those feelings of wonder and mysticism and gratitude in me.

OLIVER SACKS

"If you want to know who your tribe is, speak your truth, then see who sticks around. Those are the people who get a spot in your blanket fort." -Nanea Hoffman