Are you certain?

Sparked by a comment from mmp (see last blog), and following a link (http://asbojesus.wordpress.com/), I came across this wonderful image...

I read recently something to the effect that doubt has a more legitimate place in our faith journey than does certainty. And I want to say YES!! It is doubt and questioning that drives us deeper, searching, seeking, groaning, yearning, longing. Certainty doesn't cause us to do any of that stuff. It just says, "case proven, end of conversation".

There was a time while speaking to a church gathering that I said doubt was good and positive - and was soundly reprimanded: "Doubt is never positive", I was told. But I maintain that doubt is that grit in the oyster from which pearls result. I concede though that I was perhaps unwise to say what I said in the context I was speaking - right timing is important.

I became a Christian and was nurtured in a church environment that claimed remarkable properties for the Bible. Now I think the Bible is a wonderful, God-given, Spirit-inspired book which has much to say to me and to you in the 21st century - all very remarkable. But it's possible to attribute more to the book than was ever intended. Take for example the claim for its inerrancy; or the way in which it is often used to shoot others down - Bible bullets as we used to call them; or how it is wafted in the air with cries of 'the truth'.

Anyway, I'm ranting now. All I wanted to say really was that, where matters of faith are concerned, doubt is good, certainty rarely is.

The primary cause of unhappiness

"The primary cause of unhappiness in Britain is not lack of material wealth but a loss of faith in God and religion, a group of MPs says." (The Times, Monday 12 May). Amen!! Although I'm not sure I would have framed it in terms of religion. As witnessed by many of the comments following the piece in Timesonline, people have a kneejerk reaction whenever the 'R' word is mentioned.

I'm reading 'Evangelism in a spiritual age', which was published a couple of years back by those leading the Fresh Expressions initiative. It is based on in-depth interviews with people outside of the church, and makes fascinating (and encouraging) reading.


While there is, not surprisingly, a largely negative view of church among the respondents, there is widespread interest in, belief in, experience of the spiritual (which involves everything from angels and awe-experiences to ghosts and connection with dead relatives). The point being, with many people there is a ready-made starting point for faith conversations, because these things are a part of their view and experience of the world already.


However, I suggest that what these people do NOT need is an invitation to church, a 4-point gospel presentation or condemnation of their often vaguely held and inconsistent belief system. They need what people have always needed: someone to listen to what they sincerely think (without 'correcting'), to listen to their questions (without presenting 'the answer'), and being honest about our own views and uncertainties.

We would walk again thy sacred paths

An invitation to read and resonate...

"Land of my fathers, how I long to return, to touch thy earth, and find again thy sacred paths, well-walked with the Gospel of Peace, veiled now in the shadow of mediocrity.

"'What mean these stones' which beset thy coastline, who in twisted agony cry out in praise and supplication of Him and the renewal of the faith that bled to secure them there?

"Yet we would walk again thy sacred paths, repair thy ancient ruins, restore thy broken altars, raise up the foundations of many generations.
"Hear this, you lands of the South who hold many in captivity by your empty words and well-worn myths, who neglect to see justice for the poor, the widow, the fatherless.

"Look to the North -for lo your Redeemer comes, clothed in the poverty of the few who dare to speak His name, without vanity, in a whisper, lest the earth should tremble Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord.

"Poor of Yahweh, arise, take up the ancient mantle which has awaited your day; clothe yourselves within its humility, for you have been set as a stumbling block for many."


(taken from www.northumbriacommunity.org - Pray the Office)

On life and fossils

"A lack of food and water has a dramatic physical effect upon the body. Equally, a lack of love and encouragement can have a dramatic emotional effect upon the body. Similarly a lack of reflective engagement and embracing of the mysterious and paradoxical questions about life can have a negative spiritual effect upon the body. This results in spiritual poverty." (Glimpses, Steve Bullock, Nigel Pimlock, 2008)

I'm on a roll here. To my mind, this is so true. My previous post suggested that often the church isn't great at fostering spirituality. I think it's that 'lack of reflective engagement and embracing of the mysterious and paradoxical' that is at the root of such ineffectiveness. Too much of church seeks to build solid, unshakable doctrine into its people. Scripture verses such as 'Jesus, the same yesterday, today and forever', and the Bible story of the wise man who built his house upon a rock, are used to promote the primary value of faith being solid, immovable, unchanging.

Yet the more I try to live as a follower of Jesus, the more I come to see faith as a strong relationship, a bit like a good marriage or frienship which can be utterly confusing, bewildering and frustrating, yet precious, grounded and affirming. The trouble is many people, and particularly those in positions of power (and we're all in positions of power one way or another), prefer the solid, the immovable, the predictable, the controllable - that way you can stay in power more easily, or so it seems. Consequently, we have taken the idea that Jesus is our Rock and applied that understanding to our doctrines. So rather than the kind of rock in which we can trust because it provides a solid, dependable, utterly trustworthy foundation, we have often made Jesus into a fossil, an ossified* life-form, that once was the source of all life, the embodiment of life itself, and in his human form the perfect example of how life can be lived in all its fullness. Preach on brother!!

*def: make or become rigid or callous or unprogressive

Dream on

This spiritual formation thing is really speaking to me. As I reflect on the problems faced by our society - whether those associated with poverty or with wealth, with overwork or with no work, with poor health or with ineffective education - so much of it comes back to a lack of spirituality in people's lives. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised at this realisation, but as with many things, you can know something for years before you come to learn it. And this is one of those things I'm just beginning to learn.

My church background would say, of course, people need Jesus. Well yes, I guess that would be wonderful - a life-giving, vibrant, authentic, gutsy, full-on, brutally honest relationship with Jesus is very definitely good for the soul, good for the community and good for the planet. Sadly, most of us never come close. Even those of us claiming allegiance to Jesus only attain to a pale reflection of what is possible, and ironically much that is promoted as Christian is sadly lacking in the spirituality department.

But think how different things might be if the people in our community for whom life revolves around earning more money, getting more stuff, going on more holidays and watching countless hours of TV, could just catch hold of the spiritual: finding our place in the bigger story of which we're all a part, experiencing that sense of awe at the world around us, breaking through personal barriers that have kept us imprisoned, living a life based on love...dream on.