Almighty God, may you guide us to seek your Truth –
come whence it may, cost what it will, lead where it might. Amen.
You’ll
recall that last Sunday, I laid out a sermon series for the five Sundays in
Lent. The premise is that there are two poles to religious belief. On one end
of the spectrum is religious extremism, where beliefs are held that are too
extreme for the religion to handle. Violence and murder done in the name of God
are examples of religious extremism. When you apply certain beliefs too
extremely, being closed off to compassion, diversity, or reason, what you end
up with is a distortion of religion that is problematic. On the other side of
religious belief is a problem that has infected much of Western Christianity:
routinism. In routinism, religion doesn’t affect the way you see the world, the
way you see yourself, or the way you interact with others. Religious routinism
is devoid of any meaning, substance, or vigor. And routinism is just as much a
fatal flaw to religion as extremism is.
