Within the Bible’s book of Acts, the original disciples of Jesus spoke of the practice of their faith simply as “the way.” The way was basically a bunch of people doing life together, encouraging each other, praying, serving, forgiving, and sharing this vision of a better way of life with others. I wonder how it all got so complex.

It seems like when religion steps in that spirituality becomes incredibly complex. It’s like on the one hand there’s the good news of all the grace in the world, but to get to it religion puts in a bunch of strange hoops. Like having to go to the right church, read this creed, accept our savior, read the Koran only in Arabic, when you pray you have to face east, or west, or up, or down, and then the clincher is that you have to believe that our secret handshake is the only one that works at the doorway to heaven.

‘The prophet Micah helped all of us when he wrote the following: “This and only this is what the Lord God asks of you: to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (6:8). I’ve lost track of the number of people to whom I’ve mentioned this prophetic advice. It certainly has the power to simplify one’s life. Many of us get caught up in much foolishness when it comes to God and how to do God’s will. We imagine God wishing us to live in guilt and dread. We suspect God to be constantly tracking each and every sin that befalls the human race. Virtually every sin I’ve ever heard witnessed can be summed up as failures “to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” The rest, as has been said, is commentary.

If we seek to live our lives according to the words of Micah, we can be assured that God’s mercy will be more than enough for us when it comes time to stand before the Fountain of All that is Good. Too many preachers in the past and present try to make people afraid of God’s judgment. This is purely a way of controlling people. It can also be seen as the outflow from twisted psyches. Whenever religion promotes fear instead of faith, anguish in place of awe, guilt rather than grace, such a religion has gone astray. A good way for us to stay centered is to pay attention to the words of Micah.’

Seems like a simple way toward spirituality to me, and you don’t even have to remember the secret handshake.

One Response to “A Simple Path”