But Paul talked about how the way that we enter spirituality needs to engage the tradition that we're part of. Having a general definition of spirituality (such as having a sense of a higher benevolent power) is good in that it allows connection to people of other traditions and fosters a sense of unity. But a general definition doesn't ask us to be accountable to the tradition that we feel called to follow. Our problem at Watershed is that a lot of us don't know our tradition - we were brought up with the Christian stories, but we never learned about the story of Christ apart from the cultural wrappings. (One way that I see this in my life is with the idea of Pharisees. I can see myself reading about how arrogant the Pharisees were and always pictured them as somehow out there. The idea that I could be a Pharisee when I spend most of my time pre-occupied by how my actions can benefit my life never really crossed my mind.) So we need to learn about the Christian tradition.
Some Christian essentials that we need to be connected to are:
We also went through a bunch of definitions of Christian spirituality from various authors with the goal of voting those that don't fit with Watershed –off the island.” Here are our top five. It's interesting to think about what spirituality means to me considering that for the most part all I care about is my comfort. In terms of Watershed, there are some things that are musts: a sense of graced relationship with God, Jesus as the Human One from whom we learn how to become fully human, learning in community, and something that calls us to compassion for the world.
I think because we talk about Christian spirituality from our own experience, it comes alive. Here I am having been raised as a Christian and now choosing to be a Christian - what does that mean to me? What does it mean for my life that I want to follow Christ and this story of transformation?