The modern adage goes, "I'm not religious, but I'm spiritual." But what does that mean and where does it come from? The modern contempt for religion doesn't come from Jesus and the Apostles, it comes from the likes of Voltaire and Nietzsche. Jesus was religious. Throughout his life Jesus engaged in religious practices. Religion is essential to spiritual formation. If we hope to be formed as Christian people we can't leave it up to vague notions of abstract spirituality, instead we need the practices and disciplines that belong to the received wisdom of the Christian religion.
