The spirituality of nature is natural. The spirituality of stress-free happiness can be euphoric. I have experienced it. It is insufficient. The difference between nature spirituality and Christian spirituality is the cross. The cross draws us to the powerless and suffering of this world. Christian spirituality calls us to an inner peace that frees us to serve, not an inner peace into which we retreat.

I understand those who tell me they find God on the golf course or in the forest. There are elements of this in Jesus’ teaching: “Consider the lilies of the field…” If, however, that kind of spirituality allows me to escape into a carefree, consumer-oriented, self-centered life, it bears little resemblance to the God revealed in the cross of Christ, where God is found in the face of the suffering. Any spirituality that does not draw us to the many in need is a fake, imaginary spirituality that fails to see the world as it is.