In Christianity, words matter. As someone who is training to be a professional theologian, I try to think and pray hard about how we should talk about God and our life under God. But, this is not merely the job for academics, but should hopefully be something we all do to various degrees. Holding our language about God with open hands allows us to see when the way we talk about God actually cuts against the gospel. It is in light of this that I want to open up a discussion on the terms spirituality, Spirituality and Spiritual Formation. At first glance, these may seem to be all the same thing, but I hope to show that there is are important and necessary distinctions to be drawn between them.

First, how are we to understand "spirituality?" The term spirituality has become popular among all kinds of groups in our day. I use a lowercase "s" in reference to this kind of spirituality, and we can think of it as those who are spiritual but not "religious" (or, in other words, do not adhere to a religious or theological system). This poses some interesting possibilities for us (as it did Paul at Athens: "I see you are very religious"), but moreso, it poses difficulties. Although I have no interest in this kind of spirituality, let me try to offer a brief glimpse of some of its essentials. First, there is a belief that everyone has a "spiritual" side. This isn't usually in reference to their make-up as a person (body/spirit), but is in reference to some potential for transcendence. What I mean by this is that there is a belief that we can somehow move beyond the mundane in our lives through our own powers and potentialities. Second, tied in with this is the idea that being spiritual is directly connected to living well and happiness. Therefore, in these circles, being spiritual means living up to your potential, and is about making the most out of your life. Thirdly, spirituality in this vein is able to be mass-produced. In other words, just like weight loss tips and work out plans, you can buy into any number of strategies and simply make it happen.

Let me just say that this kind of "spirituality" has nothing in common with Christian Spirituality. While there are, sadly, parallels in the church today, that reality points more to our lack of thinking well about life under God than it does with true Christian living.

Therefore, secondly, how are we to understand Spirituality? Notice I now capitalize the "S" here. This is to highlight that we are now talking about Christian Spirituality. This is not merely a way to demarcate between non-religious and Christian "brands," but instead refers to what Christian Spirituality is in reference to. In other words, Christian Spirituality is in reference to the work of the Spirit of God. We capitalize Spirituality in reference to Christian Spirituality because it is the work of the person of the Spirit, the third member of the Trinity, and not something we achieve or make happen. This emphasizes the reality that it is not our work, it is not about our transcendence or ability to better our existence and highlights that it is unable to be mass produced. Christian Spirituality is about God's work in his people to sanctify them for himself. We do and will have work to do in this activity, but it is not our work which accomplishes it. Likewise, we do not engage in this kind of activity to better our lives, and we are not allowed to develop the agenda. A truly Christian Spirituality will focus on praying, "Not my will but yours be done." We have to recognize that Jesus, who was the most Spiritual person ever to live, was called to the desert, to Gethsemane and to the cross.

Thirdly therefore, how are we to understand "Spiritual Formation" in all of this? Basically, Spiritual Formation can be equated with the latter Spirituality and not the former spirituality. It is about God's work in us to make us holy, and to draw us to himself, for himself. The Spiritual Formation conversation will, therefore, talk about the dynamics of this life under God, but should not, I believe, try to develop any practices claiming: "if you just follow the direction you will find yourself holy." God is ultimately free in his work, therefore Spiritual Formation is about submitting to his will for your life.

Does that make sense? This is a pretty stripped down account, but I just wanted to highlight some of the central contours of it all. Does this rub anyone the wrong way? Why?