--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The Sunday service alone seldom leads…" description: "\"“The Sunday service alone seldom leads people on deeper or even real journeys; we must begin to be honest about this. All that organized religion can d..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e41/richard-rohr-618_boxing-ring_the-sunday-service-alone-seldom-leads-pe_2999573.jpg" --- # The Sunday service alone seldom leads people on deeper or… ![“The Sunday service alone seldom leads people on deeper or even real journeys; we must begin to be honest about this. All that organized religion can do is to hold you inside the boxing ring long enough so you can begin to ask good questions and expect bigger answers. But it seldom teaches you how…” quote by Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e41/richard-rohr-618_boxing-ring_the-sunday-service-alone-seldom-leads-pe_2999573.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e41/richard-rohr-618_boxing-ring_the-sunday-service-alone-seldom-leads-pe_2999573.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e41/richard-rohr-618_boxing-ring_the-sunday-service-alone-seldom-leads-pe_2999573.jpg) > ““The Sunday service alone seldom leads people on deeper or even real journeys; we must begin to be honest about this. All that organized religion can do is to hold you inside the boxing ring long enough so you can begin to ask good questions and expect bigger answers. But it seldom teaches you how to really box with the mystery itself. Organized religion does not tend to cook you! It just keeps you on a low, half-cold simmer. It doesn’t teach you how to expect the mystery to show itself at any profound level. It tends, and I don’t mean to be unkind, to make you codependent upon its own ministry, instead of leading you to know something for yourself, which is really the whole point. It’s like we keep saying, “keep coming back, keep coming back” and you’ll eventually get it. But you don’t because the whole thing is oriented toward something you attend or watch and not to something you can participate in 24/7, even without the ministrations of priest and ministers and formal sacraments. Again, I mean no disrespect. If God-experience depends on formal sacramental ministry from ordained clergy, than 99.9 percent of creation has had no chance to know or love God. That can’t be true. And if the clergy themselves have not gone on a further journey, they don’t know how to send you there or guide you there because they have not gone there themselves yet (see Matthew 23:13). Nemo dat quod not hat, we said in Latin: “You cannot give away what you do not have yourself.”” [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Organized religion often provides structure but may limit personal spiritual depth, keeping believers passive rather than actively engaging with mystery. **In simple terms:** Religion gives structure but can keep you passive. Key Takeaway Seek personal, active spiritual practice. Themes spirituality religion personal growth Mood reflective thoughtful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - daily meditation - community worship - personal study - mindful prayer Key Concepts dependence mystery agency Questions to Reflect On - How can you engage with mystery daily? - What practices foster personal spiritual agency? A Different Perspective Religion may become a crutch, hindering independent exploration. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Boxing ring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boxing-ring/) [God Experience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/god-experience-252915/) [Love god](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love-god/) [Ministry Instead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ministry-instead-4755993/) [Ministry Ordained](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ministry-ordained-4755994/) [Organized religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organized-religion/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Sacramental Ministry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sacramental-ministry-4755992/) ## Related quotes > [Our culture is almost entirely prepared to not just help you create your false self, but to get very identified with it and attached…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/our-culture-is-almost-entirely-prepared-to-not-just-help-you-create/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [In my opinion, most organized religion does neither agentic service nor relational nurturance very well.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/in-my-opinion-most-organized-religion-does-neither-agentic-service/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [“...organized religion is no longer good news for most people, but bad news indeed. It set us up for the massive atheism, agnosticism, hedonism,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/organized-religion-is-no-longer-good-news-for-most-people-but-bad/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [To keep the middle coming back, you can't say some radically conservative or radically progressive things. That's been the bane of organized religion. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/to-keep-the-middle-coming-back-you-can-t-say-some-radically/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [“Perhaps the True Self--and the full Christ Mystery (not the same as organized Christianity)--will always live in the backwaters of any empire and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/perhaps-the-true-self-and-the-full-christ-mystery-not-the-same-as/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [I believe that is what the God experience does for us. It calls us beyond our limits into the fullness of life - into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-shelby-spong/i-believe-that-is-what-the-god-experience-does-for-us-it-calls-us/) [John Shelby Spong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-shelby-spong/) > [“There are those who don’t believe in God and yet do good. There are those who believe in God and kill for that belief;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-krishnamurti/there-are-those-who-don-t-believe-in-god-and-yet-do-good-there-are/) [J. Krishnamurti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-krishnamurti/) > [Once you have surrendered completely to God, you experience for the first time absolute freedom from the worries, problems and ills of this world.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashok-kushwaha/once-you-have-surrendered-completely-to-god-you-experience-for-the/) [Ashok Kushwaha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashok-kushwaha/) > [God put us here to experience the beauty of his creation(s). Do not take it for granted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/enhance-dreams/god-put-us-here-to-experience-the-beauty-of-his-creation-s-do-not/) [Enhance Dreams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/enhance-dreams/) > [I cannot live in mediocrity, content with merely knowing that there is more of God to experience and explore -and then do nothing about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-johnson/i-cannot-live-in-mediocrity-content-with-merely-knowing-that-there-is/) [Bill Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-johnson/) > [“I do not believe that I am an atheist. Let me tell you of an experience I had. I was nineteen years old at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/otto-f-walter/i-do-not-believe-that-i-am-an-atheist-let-me-tell-you-of-an/) [Otto F. Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/otto-f-walter/) > [“I thank God for every experience.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/i-thank-god-for-every-experience/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [God is an experience of supreme love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-gilbert/god-is-an-experience-of-supreme-love/) [Elizabeth Gilbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-gilbert/) > [God is not a person; God is manifestation itself. We think that God is a superhuman person, but God is not a person. He…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ricky-ray/god-is-not-a-person-god-is-manifestation-itself-we-think-that-god-is/) [Ricky Ray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ricky-ray/) > [To complain that man measures God by his own experience is a waste of time; man measures everything by his own experience; he has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-l-sayers/to-complain-that-man-measures-god-by-his-own-experience-is-a-waste-of/) [Dorothy L. Sayers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-l-sayers/) ## More by Richard Rohr > [“We have become human doings more than human beings, and the verb “rest,” as Jesus uses it, is largely foreign to us.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/we-have-become-human-doings-more-than-human-beings-and-the-verb-rest/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [In my opinion, most organized religion does neither agentic service nor relational nurturance very well.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/in-my-opinion-most-organized-religion-does-neither-agentic-service/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [If we do not transform our pain, we will most assuredly transmit it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/if-we-do-not-transform-our-pain-we-will-most-assuredly-transmit-it/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [In solitude, at last, we’re able to let God define us the way we are always supposed to be defined—by relationship: the I-thou relationship,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/in-solitude-at-last-we-re-able-to-let-god-define-us-the-way-we-are/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [Pain and suffering that are not transformed are usually projected onto others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/pain-and-suffering-that-are-not-transformed-are-usually-projected/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [You cannot grow in the integrative dance of action and contemplation without a strong tolerance for ambiguity, an ability to allow, forgive, and contain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/you-cannot-grow-in-the-integrative-dance-of-action-and-contemplation/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [“In the end, we do not so much reclaim what we have lost as discover a significantly new self in and through the process.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/in-the-end-we-do-not-so-much-reclaim-what-we-have-lost-as-discover-a/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [All great spirituality is about what we do with our pain. If we do not transform our pain, we will transmit it to those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/all-great-spirituality-is-about-what-we-do-with-our-pain-if-we-do-not/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [“I would wonder if you could be a hero or heroine if you did not live in deep time, that is, Past, present, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/i-would-wonder-if-you-could-be-a-hero-or-heroine-if-you-did-not-live/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [Nature is the one song of praise that never stops singing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/nature-is-the-one-song-of-praise-that-never-stops-singing/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [“I believe contemplation shows us that nothing inside us is as bad as our hatred and denial of the bad. Hating and denying it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/i-believe-contemplation-shows-us-that-nothing-inside-us-is-as-bad-as/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [We don't have much wisdom about the second half when things really open up and end up looking a lot more progressive. In my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/we-don-t-have-much-wisdom-about-the-second-half-when-things-really/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [If you do not transform your wounds you will transmit them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/if-you-do-not-transform-your-wounds-you-will-transmit-them/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [The real spiritual journey is work. You can make a naïve assertion that you trust in Jesus, but until it is tested a good,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/the-real-spiritual-journey-is-work-you-can-make-a-na-ve-assertion/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [“The soul needs meaning as much as the body needs food.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/the-soul-needs-meaning-as-much-as-the-body-needs-food/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) [Explore all 443 Richard Rohr quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) ## More Boxing ring quotes > [You know, it brings in a lot of different people; you take people off the street, and kids, and people from all different walks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michele-lamy/you-know-it-brings-in-a-lot-of-different-people-you-take-people-off/) [Michele Lamy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michele-lamy/) > [Unlike most sports playing fields, a boxing ring is a temporary structure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hauser/unlike-most-sports-playing-fields-a-boxing-ring-is-a-temporary/) [Thomas Hauser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hauser/) > [“Let’s face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-lederer/let-s-face-it-english-is-a-crazy-language-there-is-no-egg-in-eggplant/) [Richard Lederer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-lederer/) > [All of my life had been spent in the shadow of apartheid. And when South Africa went through its extraordinary change in 1994, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/athol-fugard/all-of-my-life-had-been-spent-in-the-shadow-of-apartheid-and-when/) [Athol Fugard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/athol-fugard/) > [Sometimes, there's a fine line between bravery and utter stupidity. The day I decided to climb into a boxing ring for a professional fight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-flintoff/sometimes-there-s-a-fine-line-between-bravery-and-utter-stupidity-the/) [Andrew Flintoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-flintoff/) > [“what's the use of overcoming opponent after opponent in the wrestling or boxing rings if you can be overcome by your temper?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucius-annaeus-seneca/what-s-the-use-of-overcoming-opponent-after-opponent-in-the-wrestling/) [Lucius Annaeus Seneca](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucius-annaeus-seneca/) > [I was slamming shots and partying when most boys my age were building forts and playing with trains. I still go to extremes for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-osbourne/i-was-slamming-shots-and-partying-when-most-boys-my-age-were-building/) [Jack Osbourne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-osbourne/) > [“But what is philosophy? Doesn’t it simply mean preparing ourselves for what may come? Don’t you understand that really amounts to saying that if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-holiday/but-what-is-philosophy-doesn-t-it-simply-mean-preparing-ourselves-for/) [Ryan Holiday](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-holiday/) > [ “\[W\]hat is the world but a boxing ring where fools and devils put up their fists?” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherynne-m-valente/w-hat-is-the-world-but-a-boxing-ring-where-fools-and-devils-put-up/) [Catherynne M. Valente](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherynne-m-valente/) > [I think going in a boxing ring with Conor would be great, or in MMA... No ill will towards the guy but I actually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cody-garbrandt/i-think-going-in-a-boxing-ring-with-conor-would-be-great-or-in-mma-no/) [Cody Garbrandt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cody-garbrandt/) > [Any UFC fighter, and any fighter going into the boxing ring and can do what they do in the UFC, nine out of 10…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-hopkins/any-ufc-fighter-and-any-fighter-going-into-the-boxing-ring-and-can-do/) [Bernard Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-hopkins/) > [I worked in this club in Mansfield, Ohio, called the Ringside. The stage was just like a boxing ring with the four posts, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/soupy-sales/i-worked-in-this-club-in-mansfield-ohio-called-the-ringside-the-stage/) [Soupy Sales](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/soupy-sales/) > [I want to make sure that when I step into the boxing ring it's an even playing field because I work extremely hard with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/demetrius-andrade/i-want-to-make-sure-that-when-i-step-into-the-boxing-ring-it-s-an/) [Demetrius Andrade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/demetrius-andrade/) > [I run on the road long before I dance under the lights.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muhammad-ali/i-run-on-the-road-long-before-i-dance-under-the-lights/) [Muhammad Ali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muhammad-ali/) > [Life is similar to a boxing ring, you are declared a loser not when you fall but when you refuse to stand up...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/life-is-similar-to-a-boxing-ring-you-are-declared-a-loser-not-when/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 47 Boxing ring quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boxing-ring/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The Sunday service alone seldom leads people on deeper or even real journeys; we must begin to be honest about this. All that organized religion can do is to hold you inside the boxing ring long enough so you can begin to ask good questions and expect bigger answers. But it seldom teaches you how to really box with the mystery itself. Organized religion does not tend to cook you! It just keeps you on a low, half-cold simmer. It doesn’t teach you how to expect the mystery to show itself at any profound level. It tends, and I don’t mean to be unkind, to make you codependent upon its own ministry, instead of leading you to know something for yourself, which is really the whole point. It’s like we keep saying, “keep coming back, keep coming back” and you’ll eventually get it. But you don’t because the whole thing is oriented toward something you attend or watch and not to something you can participate in 24/7, even without the ministrations of priest and ministers and formal sacraments. Again, I mean no disrespect. If God-experience depends on formal sacramental ministry from ordained clergy, than 99.9 percent of creation has had no chance to know or love God. That can’t be true. And if the clergy themselves have not gone on a further journey, they don’t know how to send you there or guide you there because they have not gone there themselves yet (see Matthew 23:13). Nemo dat quod not hat, we said in Latin: “You cannot give away what you do not have yourself.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Richard Rohr" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/the-sunday-service-alone-seldom-leads-people-on-deeper-or-even-real/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Boxing ring" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/the-sunday-service-alone-seldom-leads-people-on-deeper-or-even-real/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e41/richard-rohr-618_boxing-ring_the-sunday-service-alone-seldom-leads-pe_2999573.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e41/richard-rohr-618_boxing-ring_the-sunday-service-alone-seldom-leads-pe_2999573.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e41/richard-rohr-618_boxing-ring_the-sunday-service-alone-seldom-leads-pe_2999573.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The Sunday service alone seldom leads people on deeper or even real journeys; we must begin to be honest…” — Richard Rohr", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Richard Rohr", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“The Sunday service alone seldom leads...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/the-sunday-service-alone-seldom-leads-people-on-deeper-or-even-real/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/the-sunday-service-alone-seldom-leads-people-on-deeper-or-even-real/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```