Religion believes we can all be better

RELIGION TODAY - Published Saturday July 4th, 2009

We are about as far away from Christmas as possible, so I thought it might be a good time to bring up "Holiday Trees."

Season's greetings, happy holidays and all the rest are touted as the best way to make the celebration of the winter solstice into a universal holiday for everyone. Fair enough; but are there also specific rights and rituals for individual religious practices that we need to honour?

Would we want to change the menorah candles into "candles of light"? Should we really have "Holiday Trees"?

I got thinking about this sort of thing this week because of a broader conversation in my head, the civic function of religious observances.

You see, I did a funeral last week. Most clergy of whatever faith do funerals on a constant basis. Many times we do funerals for people who have no religious connections of their own -- so we either get called in as the religious care providers for the supporters, or because there really is no "one" person who should do it, and we are next on the list.

So that is one side of the coin; since only some 20 per cent of the people out there go to church, 80 per cent have no church affiliation and all of a sudden need one. People expect to have a funeral.

I have no problem with this. The 'Rev' said the words at the OK Corral when the gunfighters were put in the ground, and they had never been to church either.

One of my roles as a clergy person is to perform a civic duty.

The thing is, it is getting harder. For example, who is a funeral for? In the real sense of what is going on, it is a service 'for' the survivors; be they friends, relatives, co-workers or neighbours. It is both a celebration of the life lived, and a formalized way to say goodbye.

It is also, in almost every case, a religious rite.

How do you balance these two things in today's society, when half of the people there may never have been to church, when a third of the people might be from another culture or religious background?

Should you?

A church is one of the few places that tries to appeal to at least five different "generations" of people, from net gen right through to builders, the people who actually gave birth to the baby boomers.

That in itself is an impossible task; tack on to that the idea that we must be the public keepers of religion in an increasingly anti-religious society and you are really making it difficult.

So to borrow a phrase, what would Jesus do?

Well, for one thing, believe it or not, Jesus never forced anyone to listen to him, and was not one for overt evangelism. When people came and asked him questions, he responded. When crowds gathered to listen to him talk, he preached. When people came and asked to be healed, he had compassion.

So there is thought one: when someone asks, be prepared to tell. The role of the religious person in society is to be able to answer religious questions.

Secondly, Jesus always challenged people to be better than they were acting. Religion is at its core a belief that we can all be better. So in every situation where it is possible, expect more from people. Not in a bitter, or confrontational way; perhaps it would be easier to say, expect the glass to be half full, and invite people to live into your expectations.

Last but certainly not least; Jesus always lived faithful to what he believed. This did not mean that he was a monk, or that he lived in a cave. He ate good food, he drank good wine, and he went to parties and travelled around talking to people. He took days off and had time alone. At the same time, he walked the walk. He was open, honest and understanding.

I think that to be a religious person in the modern world requires us to live in just this sort of way; and be willing to be who we are in a way that shows the best of what religion offers -- peace, love and hope.