Grounded

James Martin, SJ, who wrote “Jesus: A Pilgrimage” recently said, “An absolutely gorgeously written book about real faith in the real world.”   He was speaking about the 2015 book “Grounded: Finding God in the World – A Spiritual Revolution” written by Diana Butler Bass.  I’m reading it now.

Among many things she says: “…The conventional understandings of God have become increasingly irrelevant throughout Western culture, societies once shaped by the most magnificent visions of the transcendent God.  Those views are being challenged by an emerging embrace of God-with-us, a from-the-ground-up theology evident in attitudes towards nature and culture and in our hopes, dreams, and actions…This God is not above or beyond, but integral to the whole f creation, entwined with the sacred ecology of the universe.” This sounds a lot like the Holy Spirit that is not an “emerging embrace” but a long-held conviction made known to us through the Trinity.

So far I like what she says especially about why large numbers of Americans per year have left religion, i.e., believers “who were once faithful participants but who now have had enough of institutional religion.”  I guess I’ll read on.

Deacon David Pierce