Spirituality is something that I've thought about for as long as I can remember. I would have been interested in it even if my parents hadn't taken us to church every Sunday and Wednesday.
So, every Sunday morning was a rush to get to Sunday School and Church every week for me. It was just what we did and I have to say I didn't like it much. But, nobody was interested in whether I liked it or not, we were going and that was it.
Growing up in the Southern Baptist Church was a real challenge for me. I questioned everything. I wasn't so easy to convince of the fairy tale they were always preaching. I had my mind about things but at the same time, I did realize that some things about the teachings of Jesus made a lot of sense to me. Never did I think the earth was created in 7 literal days. To me I figured it was just representing the steps in creating our world in the most logical form possible for the time.
When we moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama we joined the First Baptist Church there and it was a nice place to be. I remember my brother and I being in the "Royal Ambassadors" and we went to choir some. The pastor at that time was Dr. C. C. Randall, I think he went by Cecil, which was his second name. I think we just always called him Dr. Randall. He was a very steady pastor. I have only vague memories of him but he was a gentle and caring pastor and minister to his congregation.
Nobody would believe this, but I actually did the "Aisle March" before my brother. I felt the call one morning and just went down front. I wasn't expecting that at all. I'm not sure what possessed me to do that even today. My brother is much more pious than I ever was or claimed to be. I think my parents were more surprised than anyone.
Before we were baptized, yes dunking in the baptistery in front of the congregation which memorializes John the Baptist baptizing Jesus which signaled the beginning of His ministry, Dr. Randall came to our little apartment in the faculty housing of the old military hospital there in Tuscaloosa known as The Northington Apartments to counsel us to make sure we knew what we were doing and more importantly why we were doing it and what it meant to be doing it.
The "Profession of Faith" is a commitment to live life based on the teachings and life of Jesus Christ. Often people try to tempt you into committing yourself to the "Religion" related to Jesus Christ, which includes agreeing that he was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified and died on the cross, and rose again to life three days later, and then ascended into heaven to be with his heavenly father. Many are literalists when it comes to these elements of the religion saying that unless you really believe that is actually what happened you are not a true Christian. But, after all of these years of Bible study and reflection and also looking back on that evening with Dr. Randall I see the real beauty and meaning behind what Faith truly is.
I remember as if it was yesterday him holding that penny and asking me, "Do you believe that I will give you this penny?" We were alone in the room. He was talking to me as a grown-up, not as a child of 9.
It felt to me a little bit like a trick of some kind. I felt like he was going to fool me somehow. I was doubtful and worried about being gullible. He didn't tell me he needed it back or anything or that I had to do anything to 'earn' it. I didn't 'trust' him.
He said that if you can believe that I will give you this penny and you can accept it, you also have the faith required to accept the gift of salvation that Jesus offers us in our lives. So, I let him place it in the palm of my hand. It was a powerful moment in my life. One I will never forget.
The way I see spirituality today, the way I see the life of Jesus, is that everything having to do with Jesus is a spiritual story. The realities that people try to get you to commit to from the stories in the Bible aren't there to attach ourselves to as if we have to prove ourselves by professing those stories as being real. The entire life of Jesus and everything that happened to Him and all of the beliefs are spiritual not actually physical.
Faith is believing in something without there being proof. You hear all of the discussions about the 'existence' of God, and what people want is 'proof', physical proof, that He exists in the world. But, if God did exist in our world as everyone seems to require, then the entire meaning of God would be lost. Belief in God is based on Faith not in Facts. The entire point of God is the element of Faith in our lives. The type of faith it takes to accept a principle that can't be proven by any earthly measure but can be manifested only in our soul as a way to live. We can exist elevated and separated from the world and walk in the spiritual realm while we walk in the real world in our daily lives. I say, your right foot is in heaven and your left foot is in the world. Walk with the Lord.
The dual realm we live in, the spiritual realm and the worldly realm, is mentioned many times in the Bible so "If you have ears to hear" listen.
"Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done
on Earth as it is in Heaven."
This clearly describes the separation of the Earth and Heaven. God, being in Heaven. How much clearer can you make it?
"Give us this day, our daily bread"
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
for Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever."
The eternal Kingdom is Heaven, not Earth, and that is the realm where God resides because of the power of Faith in the things you can't see, prove, or 'believe in', salvation for your soul can rise above the daily trials of our earthly existence.
Moses was in the presence of God in the Story of the Burning Bush that wasn't consumed by the flames. He even says he doesn't have a worldly name, the "I am". The 10 Commandments also include putting no other Gods in His place, because any God you would put there would be 'manmade'. Also, make no graven images to represent what I look like because I am not something you can draw a picture of. I am spirit, not real, and you can't take a picture of me nor prove my existence. You must have Faith, it is the only way to understand it.
As Jesus said, "I have not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it." In other words, stop going around following a bunch of rules, just live in the Spirit and the need for the Law will disappear on its own. When you live in the spirit, you won't be breaking the Laws of the Ten Commandments.
So, what does it take to become a follower of Jesus? Nothing real. Everyone is already saved. But, the key to salvation is opening up your heart to the spiritual realm of faith and simply accepting the gift of eternal peace earned for us by the Sacrifice of the Lamb of God on the altar of the "World" of "Humanity" of "Reality". The sins of the world are resolved for us. The pain and suffering of our worldly existence is insignificant to the power of Heaven.
This is the humility of life. We can know God, but we are not God because we are real, a worldly manifestation of the physical world but we can abide with God when we allow this gift to be a part of our daily lives.
Dr. Randall gave me that penny. I accepted that penny. I still have that penny. I was baptized on December 7, 1969, on Sunday, Evening Church Service with my brother and a couple of others.
I was not forced, coerced, or expected to do this. I am not perfect, far from it. But, I know that I am a spiritual being above all else and have been saved by the teachings of Jesus, the grace of God, and by Faith in the power of the eternal infinite.
"Über dem Sternenzelt muss ein lieber Vater wohnen." Freidrich Schiller "An die Freude" made famous by Beethoven in his 9th Symphony. (Above the (tent of)stars, must a loving Father live.)