There is a story I like about a family visiting a European Art Gallery, and they come upon a life sized sculpture of Jesus dying on the cross. A brother and sister about 10 and 11 years of age are staring at this very engaging sculpture when suddenly the boy says, "Look at the agony on his face, how he suffered, the horrible pain he went through..."

His sister interrupted, "What? Don't you know that's Jesus making atonement for the sins of the world?"

Now both of those responses were appropriate and correct and perfectly OK, but each response take us in somewhat of a different direction to a little different place; a different mindset.

David Anderson and Paul Hill in FROGS WITHOUT LEGS CAN'T HEAR tell a couple of very revealing stories about these different Christian mindsets.

A 28 year old son came home for a visit and asked his father, "Dad, I know you are religious, but are you spiritual?" The question caught the father off guard, and even confused him. He'd never thought it that way, and wasn't even sure exactly what his son meant. The father had been deeply involved in the church, immersed in congregational leadership, committed to his congregation's opportunities of public worship, education, fellowship and service. He was puzzled by his son's question. From the Father's perspective faith clearly had shaped both his personal and public life. For the son for whatever reason(s) that was not so evident. For the son, Dad's activity in the a congregation was not enough evidence that his Dad's life was grounded in a daily experience with a living God. The son was evidently looking for something different than what he saw in his father's life.

Another story goes like this. A middle-aged woman entered an ice cream parlor to order some frozen yogurt. She happened to be wearing a cross on a necklace. The young man waiting on her commented on how beautiful the cross was. After admiring it, he then asked, "Do you practice?" She was thrown off guard and a bit flustered by the question at first, saying, "Well, well, yes, yes I go to church."

Later that day the young man's question was still bouncing around in her head and she couldn't get it off her mind. She was not at all satisfied with her answer. She wondered what he meant exactly, or what he was getting at? The young man did not ask if she went to church. He looked at her cross and asked, "Do you practice?" She wondered did he mean, "Are you a Christian?"

These stories takes us in at least a couple of possible directions. In order to define more clearly these two directions, a way to describe these two directions might be to use two words: the words are religious and spiritual.

Now words are loaded with meaning and we all don't necessarily use these words in the same way. You may not define these words the way I do, but in order to talk about this I will use them in a certain way to help us clarify these two directions.

When I think of religious I think more of theological doctrines, or a belief system or a set of beliefs that involves traditions, involvement in congregational life or denominational activities, organizational patterns, and routines. It might include things like worship, fellowship opportunities, serving the church on committees, teams, councils, choirs, groups, projects, etc.

When I think of spiritual I think more about a personal practices and disciplines of the faith like prayer practices, the study of scripture, fasting, service to others, and others all performed outside of the boundaries of how we traditionally think of the church - as this place.

With religious I would associate the word "belief"; with spiritual I would associate the word "trust."

With religious I would associate the phrase "acceptance of doctrines"; with spiritual I would associate the phrase "adoption of attitudes."

With religious I would associate the phrase "Jesus is making atonement for the sins of the world;" with the word spiritual I would associate the phrase "Jesus is a Lord and friend who suffered for me who walks by my side daily."

With religious I would associate the word "head"; with spiritual I would associate the word "heart."

With religious I would associate the word "reason"; with spiritual I would associate the words "personal transformation."

With religious I would associate the word "knowledge", with spiritual I would associate "experiential."

Are you getting the idea of this? One is not wrong and one right; one is not valid and the other invalid, but they do go in different directions, take us to different places and emphasize different things. We could say religious represents more the world of church traditions and Christian theology, and spiritual is linked more closely to personal practice, passion and spiritual disciplines.

To one degree or another most of us gathered here this evening live in both of these worlds. These worlds should not be seen as distinct and opposing camps. Both worlds faithfully reflect the Christian faith.

However, I think it is easy to primarily live in one or the other at the expense of the other. It's possible to come to worship and fully participate in all the institutional gatherings of the congregation, but never really take it home, or to work , or to your spouse, or to family, or to friends or to wherever and whoever else you gather and go.

The opposite can also be true. We can so emphasize the personal aspects and disciplines of faith that we can avoid linking up with congregational life, public worship, celebration of the sacraments, corporate witness and service.

Our Lenten emphasis, FROGS WITHOUT LEGS, says we need both to be a fully equipped church frog of head, torso and legs. We need public worship; need to regularly receive the sacrament; need to participate in the various types of service and fellowship opportunities of the congregation. But we also need to take it home; to work; to family; to friends; to significant others. Anther way to say it is we need to connect the head and the heart.

The church doesn't end when you leave this building. It only just begins. The church is you at home, you at work, you at play, you in relationship with significant others.

The Four Keys of Caring Conversations, Devotions, Service, Rituals and Traditions are a practical steps that you can employ anywhere, especially with your loved ones, to link and connect these two significant aspects of the Christian experience – a significant way to connect the head and the heart. In the next four weeks we will take a closer look at each of these four Keys, one at a time.

In the story I read from Acts 2 we see the church at its very best. It is a totally integrated church – a total church frog. The lines between head and heart; temple and home; congregation and family; faith and community are so integrated you can't tell where one ends and the other begins.