“If it’s not practical, it’s not spiritual” is a phrase captured by a much respected member of a church I am associated with. I love this sentiment. I’d like to rephrase it in a positive voice: “If it’s spiritual, it’s practical”. It’ll be no surprise to anyone who knows me that I love pastoral theology. Because all theology needs to have it’s boots on, ready to walk in the mud of human experience, human brokenness, joy and laughter…in the mud of real life.
Conversely, consider the negative side: what use is a spirituality if it isn’t practical? I’m not hating on a transcendent, other-worldly sacredness that reaches beyond our lives here on Planet Earth. There is a time and place for that. Yet the whole Gospel is that the Transcendent unknowable God revealed Himself to us so that we could know Him.
If that ‘knowing’ isn’t immediate. imminent, hands-on, then it is likely off-message. God is love, and love is a verb, and it is deeply personal, interpersonal, intra-personal. If it’s spiritual, it’s practical.