RETURNING FROM IRAQ BACK INTO MY BRAIN—A THOUGHT ON THE FUTURE OF RELIGION

I happened to surf over to a TV show the other day where I heard a very enlightened-sounding priest say, "I see the future of religion being in small groups of like-minded people worshipping together."

Since I stopped by, in the middle of his train of thoughts, I’m not sure where he’d just been on his journey, but what I just quoted struck an immediate chord.

I suspect that meetings like Alcoholics Anonymous and other support groups are what the priest was referring to. The meetings are, for the most part, anywhere from ten to seventy-five people. I’d say the average size group is fifteen to twenty—at least in my area. It’s not that the group couldn’t be any larger—anyone is welcome—it’s just that the groups, by their nature, end up being this size.

AA is immediately what came to mind when I heard the Priest’s words. I’ve witnessed the power of these small groups for over a decade now and they are, by far, the most spiritually powerful groups I know of. I wonder if it’s not because the people that come to the meeting have such a strong need for help. AA is not a social affair like church sometimes can be—it’s a life or death thing. The people who come really have an urgent need to be there. They are urgently seeking for something to help them and as such there is often a palpable feeling of a Higher Power hanging around the rooms.

There's another reason, I think, that the priest’s words made me think of AA. They call the meetings, "The Rooms" which intimates a small size gathering unlike churches which normally I think of as large—cathedral-sized—gatherings.

I spoke at an AA meeting not long ago where the audience numbered five and it was a powerful meeting. Didn’t Jesus say, "wherever two or more are gathered in my name…"

There is something about the intimacy of a smaller-size group that might even make it physically more powerful. It may be that a crowd over a certain size creates a diminishing return. In church, most of the people are strangers to one another. In a smaller group you do. It is more of a family so it's a family size meeting—a natural selection for group size.

God bless you, for reading this. I may have just been rambling…but thanks for letting me share!