a way of living

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. - Jesus, John 14:6

I admit that I worship the God of our fathers as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. - Paul, Acts 24:14

To the Jewish way of of thinking there wasn't even a word in Hebrew for religion, because to them its simply a way of living. - Dwight A. Pryor, "Principles & Patterns of Jewish Prayer"

We are reading Acts as a church right now, both through teachings on Sundays and in our yearly read through the Bible plan. I have been paused by the few times that the group of people following Jesus have been called "the Way." Mentioned more than "christian" I have been perplexed by this, even a bit uncomfortable. It seemed perhaps I was missing something that was natural about following Jesus. I of course thought of Jesus' own words from John about how he is "the way." But it was listening to a teaching by Dwight Pryor that really caught my attention.

I have always struggled to express why Christianity is not a "religion" as classically conceived and often experienced. And I am sure many have heard the Evangelical idiom, "Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship (with God)." While, Dictionary.com expresses the idea of religion as primarily being a "set of beliefs" and the groups or practices that form from this "set of beliefs." Both left me with an incomplete way of expressing what Christianity means to me. It is certainly a relationship with God, which leads to certain beliefs, particular allegiances, and some disciplined practices. However, I have come to see much of what might be labelled in my life as sacred by Christians or religious by others, is simply "practice" for actual living.

This is why Pryor's words help pull together my struggle with "religion" and the haunting words of Acts about the early Church and its name "the Way." Perhaps now I might adopt this Jewish perspective of life with God as simply a "way of living." I would then be more comfortable to identify the practices and beliefs that I adopt on this life with God as "religious."

It would then serve to note that I recognize most of the disciplines of the Christian life as merely "practice" and not actually "counting" towards living. They serve as a means to receiving God's power (grace) to do what I cannot do on my own. This practice of grace then perfects my "play" on the field of life, where living counts.

Also, I would want to distance the group of people I journey with from such a rigid word as religion, for they are as family to me, and it would seem to limiting a word to express that gathering.