 Spiritual: March 23, 2022 Issue [#11278] |
This week: This Is The Way Edited by: Jeff  
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"Only a real risk tests the reality of a belief."
-- C.S. Lewis
About The Editor: Greetings! My name is Jeff and I'm one of your regular editors for the official Spiritual Newsletter! I've been a member of Writing.com since 2003, and have edited more than 350 newsletters across the site during that time. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me via email or the handy feedback field at the bottom of this newsletter! 
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This Is The Way
If you've been watching The Mandalorian on Disney+, the title of this newsletter will sound familiar. If you haven't been watching and aren't familiar with this particular area of the Star Wars universe, Mandalorians are legendary warriors, a specific sect of which follow a rigid code of behavior and traditions meant to honor Mandalorian heritage. This included everything from always coming to the aid of another Mandalorian, to never removing their helmet in front of another living being. Those who followed "The Way" would acknowledge their adherence to its tenets by uttering the phrase from which this newsletter takes its title.
But one doesn't have to go to a galaxy far, far away to find people living lives according to tenets of faith:
 The Eucharist (also known as Holy Communion, or the Lord's Supper) is a Christian rite involving the consumption of bread (or a wafer, cracker, or something similar) and wine (or nonalcoholic grape juice) intended as a remembrance of Jesus' sacrifice.
Orthodox Jewish men often wear a kippah (yarmulke) atop their heads as a reminder that God is always above them.
Devout Muslims will engage in a set of daily prayers at prescribed times of day (Fajr at dawn, Zuhr at noon, Asr in the afternoon, Maghrib after sunset, and Isha at dusk).
Each of these practices accomplish two things. First, they are an act of faithful obedience on the part of the believer. Second, they are an expression of faith to others. When it comes to orthodox religions and other forms of spirituality with very prescriptive practices, those practices themselves can communicate a lot. But what about faiths that don't have such explicit rituals?
I often wonder about this as someone coming from a Christian context. In the New Testament, it says that followers of Jesus are released from the very specific civil and ceremonial laws that applied to earlier generations ("But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we are slaves not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit." --Romans 7:6, NRSV) and that our job as Christians is to evangelize to others ("Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" --Matthew 28:19, NRSV). But if we don't have specific rituals and practices to follow, how will people know what we are unless we walk up to them and tell them, "Hey, I'm a Christian! Wanna be one too?" And, more importantly, how do we convince them, in the words of The Mandalorian, that "this is the way?"
The short answer, or one possible answer at least, is that you lead a life that's different from and appealing to those who don't follow the same path. Christians are called to lead moral lives marked by generosity, patience, sacrifice, love, etc. Lives that aspire to be like the one Jesus lived. Don't you think that if Christians actually put all those things into practice on the regular, that non-Christians they met would be like, "Wow, whatever you're doing, I want to be a part of that too!" But far too often, Christians look like everyone else. We have roughly the same divorce rate as non-Christians. The same criminal conviction rates. The same tendency to put profits over people, personal interests over the common good, to hold grudges, to judge, to punish, to accumulate power and impose our beliefs on others through force. How many "disciples of all nations" are we making if we're just like everyone else? How believable is a message of love if we're not being loving toward those we have issues with? Everyone can be loving toward people they already like; the Christian ideal of radical love is supposed to mean loving those who we don't like, don't agree with, or maybe even don't deserve it. And yet so many outsiders' understanding of the Christian faith is seen only through the lens of maximalist political stances.
And this isn't just a message for Christian readers. Whatever your faith or spiritual practice may be, what does the way you practice your faith communicate to the nonbeliever? Does it communicate anything at all? Does it communicate something good and desirable? Does it make people want to be a part of it?
Whether you're talking about a code of conduct for a fictional clan of bounty hunters in the Star Wars universe, or the tenets of faith for a very real religion or faith right here and now on Earth, you can't convince someone that "this is the way" unless that "way" is actually appealing to them. Unless it seems like a better alternative to the path they're currently on. If there's a part of you that wants to share your spirituality with others and wants them to see your faith as a viable option for them, it might be worth a little introspection to consider what you're communicating to others when you put your faith in action.
Until next time,
Jeff
If you're interested in checking out my work:
"Blogocentric Formulations"
"New & Noteworthy Things"
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Feedback from "Spiritual Newsletter (March 2, 2022)" about introductions:
Advent Pumpkin  writes:
Since you're looking at different translations, I have come across an older one by Robert Alter. It is used extensively by Dr. J Jackson, an English professor, a Christian, who teaches Bible books as literature. Also, when I was younger, decades ago, J B Phillips was very popular, but I believe he only did the New Testament. I always liked that one.
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