Mark 7. Losing my Religion

The category, "spiritual but not religious" has been an emerging, growing trend among younger adults for about a decade now.  Much has been written about it and discussed.  Whole books have been dedicated to the subject. Just Google "Spiritual but not religious" to see what I mean.  The suggestion is that there is something wrong with organized religion, but that spirituality might define someone who is seeking a deeper connection with the invisible God.  We know that a deep skepticism toward institutions has infected the west, and that both government and the church have been affected by it.  Religion is about morality and rules that restrict and exclude.  Religion puts certain people on pedestals, only to have them abuse power by abusing the people they were called to serve.  Catholic priest sex scandals and evangelical pastors affairs merely confirmed what many westerners already thought of Christianity.  And we know from a recent Pew Research poll that about 25% of Americans consider themselves unaffiliated with any religious tradition or group.  They are called the "Nones", because of the category they checked next to their religious preference. 
What can we say about Jesus of Nazareth, 1st century Jewish Rabbi?  Though he worshiped in the synagogue, he flouted customs and rituals of purification specified in the Old Testament law.  he broke Sabbath law to heal the physically broken and to feed his hungry disciples.  Breaking cleanliness laws included association with notorious sinners---women, lepers, demon-possessed people, immoral men, the sick, and the disabled.  His contact with them and with the dead make him ritually unclean, according to Jewish law.  He became a religious outcast in order to be in community with religious outcasts.  His behavior excluded himself in order that he might include the excluded in his life and teaching.  He brought hope and healing from God to people who were told that God had rejected them.  He sees the hypocrisy of the religious elders in his community.  And he says that it is not what is outside a person that defiles, but what is in one's heart and mind. 
Jesus' own radical inclusion of religious outsiders is put to the test by a Syrophoenician woman---a gentile and former enemy of Israel.  (Think Lebanese woman).  Her daughter is demon-possessed.  (Must have been a teenager):) She challenges his reluctance to help her.  Why is he reluctant?  Because Jesus was raised within a context of prejudice and boundaries. Discrimination and segregation was a part of Jewish law, meant by God to demonstrate holiness, but used by people to divide and hate.  But his ministry of hospitality and inclusion expands over these 7 chapters of Mark. The circle of inclusion widens. This is the most radical inclusion scene yet.  A gentile woman whose daughter is demon-possessed.  This woman might as well be a Zombie!  And she is brave enough to challenge Jesus' prejudice and invite him into her suffering.  And he sees faith in her, faith enough to heal her daughter.  For Jesus, faith is not a religious category.  Being a Lutheran or a Christian or a jew does not make one faithful.  Faith is a relationship of trust between God and us. 
I think many people see Christianity as divisive, hateful, and prejudicial.  Moral issues divide Christians.  Homosexuality has been the moral issue of the last 30 years.  Jesus is silent about homosexuality.  But we cannot be.  Jesus abandons moral boundaries to walk in solidarity and love with marginalized people.  He looks at religious traditions that exclude as distortions of God's intentions.
"Spiritual but not religious" is a way that some people reject the prejudicial, exclusionary aspects of Christianity.  Unfortunately, they often throw the baby out with the bathwater.  How can we invite and challenge people back into gospel community, where the marginalized are welcome and all are loved back to life?  How do we embody Jesus' mission and embrace the "nones" or the "dones" (those who have left the church in protest)?  Perhaps we begin by examining and confessing our own prejudices or ways of excluding.  And then move toward authentic relationship one day and one person at a time.