Spiritual HOAs

I have never had the pleasure or displeasure of living in a HOA.

HOA, for the uninitiated, stands for “Homeowner’s Association”, and a neighborhood that has a HOA has certain rules you have to follow in order to keep the neighborhood looking nice. For example: the grass can only be so high, only so many people can live in a house at one time, what colors you can paint your house, what decorations you can have on the lawn, etc. etc. (The city of Coral Gables, Florida might qualify as a HOA:  they have no street signs on a pole, according to city ordinances. Their street signs are engraved on stones at the corner and you have to look down to see them. And I have heard that their building code is so strict that it governs the paint color you can use INSIDE your house.) 

While HOA rules are usually well-intentioned, I have heard some horror stories about living in a HOA or trying to be in charge of a HOA. My preacher and his wife were presidents of their HOA for a year and I think they were glad to be shed of the responsibility. 

Today in church, we were talking about religion that is only skin-deep, using Hebrews 4:12 as our jumping off point. The verse says, “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joint and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” 

Our preacher commented on traditions that were well-intentioned, but eventually became more of a “show that I am religious” rather than “this is a reflection of who I am”. Mark 7 tells the story of certain Pharisees and teachers of the law who asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”

They were not referring to our modern Western practice of “wash your hands before dinner” or after going to the bathroom. The hand washing they were talking about was a ceremonial washing, a tradition showing that they were committed to personal purity.  

Commitment to personal purity is good. But eventually, the practice of the ritual became more important than the reason the ritual was being practiced in the first place! 

The outward sign of religion became more important than what was on the inside. 

A HOA can observe all of the rules of paint color, lawn decor, how many cars you can park in the driveway, how many pets you’re allowed to have, and whatever other rules they choose to have. When you drive through a HOA neighborhood, they look neat, tidy, and clean. 

But what goes on in the inside of a HOA home? 

Are there couples who just don’t speak to each other and who are on the verge of divorce?

People addicted to drugs or to alcohol?

Those who abuse their spouse and/or children?

If you just drove through a HOA neighborhood, you’d only see the outside. You’d see the grass nicely cut, the streets swept, and everything kept in order. 

You don’t see the insides of the homes where the families live. 

How many of us live in a spiritual HOA?

Or how many of us attend a house of worship that is a spiritual HOA?

You walk in, dressed in your Sunday best, and when people ask how are you, you’re expected to say, “Fine, and you?” 

The preacher is expected to preach with verve every single time he gets up to the pulpit. 

The more you show up at activities, the more you volunteer, the more active you are, the better a Christian you are. 

But who sees inside you and knows that you haven’t been reading your Bible, or praying? Who knows of the anger you feel towards God because He, for whatever reasons, has not answered your prayers the way you want Him to? 

Who knows of the constant ache in your heart for a loved one who has turned their back on God? 

Who can you tell about your depression, or anxiety, or your doubts about “is God there? Is He real? Does He love me?”

Or are there the unwritten rules of a spiritual HOA, that you have to dress, talk, act a certain way in order to be a “true Christian”? We might give lip service to, “Oh, it’s men that look at the outward things but God looks at the heart,”  but how true is that in most of our houses of worship? 

How deep is our religion? Does the word of God penetrate to the thoughts and attitudes of our heart? Do we let it? Or are we content to live in a spiritual HOA, where we look and act and talk the part of a Christian - take part in our figurative ceremonial hand washing and criticizing those who don’t - and don’t really stop to think about the sin that is in our own heart. 

I absolutely do NOT want to be living in a spiritual HOA, where the most important thing is how you look, talk, and act on the outside. Isn’t the most important thing the inside, and isn’t your action supposed to come from a heart that prompts the action, not the expectations of the spiritual HOA? 

I think that’s what Jesus would say. 

I hope I’m right!

Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.