St John the Evangelist RC Church Tadworth

CANA

Don’t be misled by this Article’s title. It is not about the Wedding Feast at which Jesus turned water into wine, nor about the cure of the court official’s son. It is about an organisation called ‘Christians Awakening to a New Awareness’ or CANA for short.

CANA was founded nearly twenty years ago. It describes its purpose or raison d’etre as being a loose-knit community of explorers who have Christian roots and share different experiences and insights for living out the teachings of Jesus in holistic and integrated ways. Meetings and weekend conferences are held from time to time, the size of the gatherings varying quite considerably depending on the subject matter and other circumstances.

Opening Paper & Sequel

At a recent weekend one of the principal papers submitted was by a man whose spiritual journey had taken him through Methodism into the Society of Friends, better known simply as The Quakers. He entitled his paper: ‘Thoughts…on a Framework for Understanding Spirituality’.

A key ‘Thought’ of his was to the effect that whilst his spiritual development had not forced him to reject institutional Christianity, his understanding of the purpose of life embraces the whole of humanity and sees differing cultures and faiths as masking the overriding message that our common humanity implies.

Both at the meeting and subsequently by an exchange of emails a number of those present chose to share their own thoughts and comments. The Author of the Opening Paper himself added to the ‘Thoughts’ in his original document by circulating a second document which he entitled ‘Thoughts ... on a Dynamic Spirituality’. Previously he had written that he had come to the conclusion: ‘Religion is dead, long live Spirituality.’ In the second document, while acknowledging that CANA might not want to espouse that slogan, he raised two further questions:

(1) Is there any point in trying to infiltrate a dynamic spirituality into the denominational religions?

(2) Are institutional religions capable of dynamic change?

To which he added: Didn’t somebody once have something to say about the inadvisability of putting new wine into old wine skins?

He argues that Society’s need is for people to have an understanding of why they exist, so as to give meaning and direction to their lives. Traditionally, he suggests, the religious denominations should be providing this, but they have failed. They have failed to make Christianity part of the essential baggage of the twenty-first century person.

So CANA's priority is to convey a twenty-first century spirituality that is not obviously tied to any particular denomination or faith. There is no need for CANA to consciously think about doing anything beyond espousing a dynamic spirituality because once the individual is gripped by such an understanding of the purpose of life, then living it becomes an automatic consequence. It is now spirituality and righteousness (right living) that are the two sides to the same coin.

Dynamic spirituality is a case of soul before brain. Listen through your soul to the message of the Creator who is both within you and surrounding you. Struggle with that message until you understand it, and then let the brain do the rest. But, like creation, the struggle to understand is continuous, just as the work of building a reformed society is continuous.

Ultimately, CANA's message has to be refined so that it is understood as common sense by the person on the Clapham omnibus. It is a message for the whole of society and not just for the people in the pews.

OTHER COMMENTS & EXPERIENCES

Participant #1

A participant, having read the Opening Paper and its Author’s added ‘Thoughts’, commented that while coming round to the Writer’s way of thinking, nevertheless he wants to hang on to the Church as a divine institution, despite being well aware that it has been captured by narrow institutional purposes throughout its history. He concludes: ‘I think that I now see religion as the soil in which spirituality can grow.’ He emphasises that ‘Christians’ in CANA’s title is intentional, basing the thinking of its participants on the input of Jesus of Nazareth. It is not denominational but is faith based. Jesus showed a way of continually relating to God, a life that was essentially spiritual. He concludes by suggesting we should indeed refine our message, but we must not delude ourselves that this is not what other Christians are attempting in their own institutional or individual settings. We are not alone. We are part of the Church.

Participant #2

A second participant wrote to say that while understanding why some want to move away from institutional religion, nevertheless she wholeheartedly agrees that for some religion is still the soil in which spirituality can grow. She adds that she knows of several churches in which that is possible, and at least one in which discussion about all aspects of spirituality, including that of other faiths, is positively encouraged.

In her own submission to the meeting, she had made a number of points which qualify the distinction that was being made between ‘religion’ and ‘spirituality’.

She questioned whether it is an exclusively Christian message that she lives by. She continued:

I do very much try to live by the first two commandments, but then they are Jewish as much as Christian, and I am sure that similar rules for ethical living are mediated by other faiths.

I suppose that I live by ideals that are at least ostensibly Christian because I was born into a Christian country. Although my parents were not churchgoers they had absorbed the Christian ethos about love and caring for others and passed it on to me, so that when I did encounter official Christianity in a single term spent at a Roman Catholic convent none of what I heard seemed unfamiliar. The nun whose class I was in certainly didn't radiate Christian compassion, nor did many of the other little girls in the class who were particularly unkind to a newcomer, but it was something I encountered in services in the chapel that stayed with me for the rest of my life. What it was is difficult to put into words, as it emerged by way of feelings and intuition rather than through any rational process, but it was something to do with a sense of mystery and a sense that there was a deep meaning behind and beyond our ordinary human lives, and that led me to a lifelong quest for understanding which has taken me along many paths which are not necessarily Christian. I would prefer to call it the Way or the Tao. That feels much more universal.

Jesus, for me, remained just the source of wise stories about how to live one's life until about twenty years ago, where someone taught me the Jesus prayer. The constant repetition of that as a mantra, when walking, when lying awake in the night, and often at other times too, has brought Jesus much closer as a personal companion, friend and mentor, but I am still not sure that he would have wished to be worshipped as a God: he was constantly pointing to the Father as something beyond himself.

She regularly attends two churches for differing reasons. She continues:

I blend into the churches which I choose to attend surprisingly well: one a village church for which I have nothing but admiration because of the wonderful job it is doing in building community, drawing people in and being accepting and inclusive. I go there to be part of a church family which is working for the good of all and because I believe that 'building the Kingdom' (i.e. creating a better world) has to start at grassroots rather than being imposed by some sort of hierarchy. The other I attend is a church in Cambridge which offers a rich and satisfying contemplative Eucharist on Sunday afternoons which incorporates periods of silence, wonderful music and poetry, and deeply thoughtful sermons. I feel lucky and privileged to be part of both churches and it no longer worries me when I encounter theology with which I disagree - that is between me and God!

Participant #3

A third outlined how her understanding of the Christian Message developed as follows:

Brought up as an Anglican, I believed everything. Soon I found myself on the liberal side, although we did tend to take everything literally, though from secondary school I knew I was not a fundamentalist, because of the teaching we received.

In the Churches Fellowship for Spiritual Studies I learned about spirituality, and joined the Roman Catholic Church, but left when disenchanted by its authoritarianism.

I began to think and read about Christianity, and have become more liberal. Most Christians would be shocked to hear that I don't believe Jesus was God or that by dying he saved us from our sins. 

I do believe that we are forgiven, although that is in the Old Testament too.

What do I understand by the `Christian Message'? I'm not sure, except that I believe that Jesus taught us how to live.

I found it very difficult to fit into a Christian Community and take part in its services, but after six months of not doing so I found I needed to worship with other Christians, taking part in the ritual of the Anglican Church I now go to. I relate to spirituality, not the words.

Participant #4

A fourth participant wrote: Having been brought up in an Anglo-Catholic CofE Church, I moved to the Unitarians, as this seemed more rational and `sensible', i.e. believable. My discovery of Paganism and of Ralph Waldo Emerson led to a radical change. My love for nature and the environment (especially plants and trees) finds very little spiritual food and support from the church, but I now understand the sacramental approach. Consequently I am now very happy at the Cathedral, but will always feel something of an outsider.

Participant #5

By way of expounding on his understanding of the Christian Message, a participant had written in his own Notes circulated before the meeting:

I have developed my understanding of the Christian message over seventy years. Like many people I was brought up in a Christian household where my parents went to church and, from school age, took my brother and me. Our bedroom contained at least one religious picture and we grew up with religious books. At boarding school from age six a pattern of morning and evening prayer was practised so readings thought suitable for children became part of my knowledge. By twelve I firmly believed in Jesus as a model for life. I was not so sure about the lives of those who were representatives of the Church and refused confirmation until I was 17. At that stage I spoke up for Jesus and the Church, but I had a vision of it as a force for the welfare of all people at home and overseas. I believed in a social gospel which impinged on all life. I also believed in the role of the laity working in groups to develop their understanding of the Gospel and its implications.

So what is my primary message? It is that God is Love, accessible, our mystical parent, making all people our brothers and sisters. The Gospel of Thomas confirms my thought that Jesus was not proclaiming a life with God in the future, but rather life with God now.

Regarding forgiveness, God always wants us to give up any bad aspects of our lives, does not hold the past against us but calls us to live life as a new life with all the blessings of the guidance God gives. The life of Jesus demonstrates such a life.

Concluding remarks

In putting together these very diverse thoughts and experiences of just a few of those who attended the CANA meeting, Aidan hopes that his readers may be encouraged during these weeks of ‘Ordinary Time’ which follow our celebration of Pentecost to reflect upon their own experience of their encounter with the Divine and with Jesus.

Having read through the entire article, readers may care to put it aside for a few days; then return to it but only to read just one of the sections at a time; comparing their own experience with that of the participant in question; seeing if they have any experiences or thoughts in common with those of the participant. Thus spreading their reading prayerfully over quite a few days, if not weeks.

If you have any comments on this or any of Aidan’s previous articles, you may email them to: