A few weeks ago, I was scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed and saw a meme that said, “Religion is a person sitting in church thinking about kayaking. Spirituality is a person sitting in a kayak thinking about God.”
This didn’t sit well with me, for several reasons. I won’t try to define religion here, or spirituality, although I think the quote is based on thin meanings of those words. The main reason it didn’t sit well with me is that I have spent a good part of my adult life in church, which, this implies, is a silly thing to do when you could be off kayaking. Since church attendance is becoming ever more countercultural for my generation, I have on several occasions been asked to explain myself. In my post-graduate service in Ireland, I got funny looks as a 20-something who not only attended church, but voluntarily worked in one (gasp!) and wanted a career in ministry (gasp!). People would say, “That’s find for you, but I don’t need to go to church. I can talk to God whenever I want!” Thankfully, that is true! This response typifies the “spiritual but not religious” lifestyle to which many of my good friends ascribe. (For further reading, I would recommend Spiritual but Not Religious: An Oar-stroke Closer to the Farther Shore by Locklin.)
I don’t think church is the only place to find God. In the first reading, Solomon and the Israelites celebrate God’s presence in the new temple. The “glory of the Lord” filled the place. It must have been magnificent to behold! It must have been wonderful to know they had a place where they could always go to be near God, and where God was pleased to dwell with them. That did not mean God abandoned everywhere else.
In the Gospel, Jesus heals all those who come to him in need of care. Two things caught me in this passage. First, Jesus is out in the world, not in the temple. Second, “people immediately recognized him.” How did they recognize him? Had they passed around sketches so they would know to seek out healing when they saw him? Did they already know him? I wonder.
How do we recognize God? How do we see God out in the world, ready to heal us, unless we know how to look? Some may be very lucky to receive that grace all alone, steering their own kayak, in an awe-inspiring sunrise on a still lake. I’m not sure I could. To me, that sunrise points beyond itself to its Creator, and it is even more beautiful because of that. I see this because a community has taught me: a local, global, 2000-year-old community saying, “Look! Do you see?” That same community gathers together in church for many reasons, one of which is to know God better. We remember that we don’t have all the answers, especially not without God and each other. This community encourages me to continue recognizing God in the world the rest of the week. After all, it is impossible to recognize someone you’ve never met.
Molly Mattingly
I grew up in north of Chicago with my parents, brother, and sister. My parents led the 5:00pm Mass music ensemble at my home parish while I was growing up, so you could also say I grew up in a church choir! Music has always been a part of my life, through school choirs, piano lessons, and music ministry. I accompanied and sang in choirs in grade school and at Carmel Catholic High School. During that time, I also swam on my YMCA swim team and worked as a lifeguard and swim instructor at a local park district.
After high school, I studied Music Education and Music Theory at Ithaca College, with an emphasis in piano and choral direction. There I was also co-director of our Catholic Community’s music ministry. I graduated from Ithaca in ’09, and like many of my classmates who graduated the year the recession peaked, was lucky enough to find a place in grad school. I got my Masters in Sacred Music from the University of Notre Dame (go Irish!), where I was involved with the Folk Choir and Notre Dame Vision retreat program. Most recently, I spent two years in Wexford, Ireland as a member and House Director of the House of Brigid, a lay community of young adults dedicated to the renewal of the Church in Ireland through catechesis and music. (Check out their website if you want to see other blog posts I’ve written and see beautiful pictures of Ireland.) And now, my music ministry vocation brought me to Creighton University and St. John’s, where I am the music director at the parish and Campus Ministry!
