“ Theologian and Pastor Paul Tillich attempts to define religion in terms of its larger
meaning on the basis of the experience of the Holy,” writes Dr. Young Ho Chun
in his book Tillich and Religion. And so Tillich asks the lovely
question, “How is it possible to be religious?”
“In the encounter with
the Holy we encounter our relatedness to something ultimate in being and
meaning.” He goes on to define our experience of the Holy as one of
experiencing our Ultimate Concern, the nature of which is always
immediate. The sacred is never avoided; everyone has something which is
sacred, because no one can live without Ultimate Concern. Thus our humanity is
to seek and live in relationship with our ultimate in being and meaning.
Tillich shared that the immediacy of our relationship means we are in direct
touch and we participate with the Ultimate.
My understanding then leads me to believe that a couple
actions are necessary for me to be religious. The first is to acknowledge
my humanity and need for relationship. Thanksgiving gatherings tend to
cover this waterfront nicely. Some relationships are enhanced and made
even more robust by encountering the stranger and offering unusual
hospitality. For others to re-engage continuing relationships with new
hope and vigor may be enough to find the movement of the Holy. However,
we must be open to the experience of the sacred in relationships. The
second is to understand our participation in those relationships as prompted
and in direct touch with the Holy. How often we turn away from another
without any thought of the action of the Holy in our midst. Anything less
than these two foundational understandings leave me wandering in the abyss of a
pseudo-holy holiday.
In preparing my holiday encounters, my worship services, and
my sermon messages I think I must engage this idea of relationship with one
another and how this sacred act leads to an immediate experience of the Holy,
and thus my Ultimate Concern. I believe we can expand this idea to
include congregations of people gathering to worship and family groups sitting
down for meals together. Perhaps we may want to be as simple and
straightforward enough to name the blessing, as we also ask the blessing in the
midst of the people. Perhaps we can both experience and name the sacred.
That would seem to me to be a good start to answering Tillich’s
question.
