Doubt & the Faith Community

Over the years you would think I would have learned never to be surprised by unusual revelations on pastoral visits. After all, there was that time in the early years of my ministry when a dear sister was determined to show me the scar from her recent surgery. After struggling for a few moments, she successfully pulled up her hospital gown and described with colorful language what “they done cut off.”  But more recently I was once again taken aback, this time by a revelation of a different sort, when an elderly brother pulled off his religious mask and bared his soul.

THE DARK SIDE OF ADOLESCENCE

The only bridge from childhood to adulthood is adolescence. If we are to grow, we must cross it and ask our questions, even if they challenge long-standing comfort zones. If not, while we may say God-words, our faith will lack vitality.

Barking Up the Wrong Tree?

Years ago I quit playing racquetball with my daughter. She’d always wallop me, and then patronize me. One day I thumped the heel of my racket on the wall, and muttering something like, “What do I have to do to win this game?“ Michele explained condescendingly, “Simple, Dad. Whenever it’s your turn, just hit the ball back in bounds.“ Of course her answer was no help. I already knew that. I just couldn’t do it!

Turning Off Your Mind

In the opening chapter of A Reasonable Faith, Anthony Campolo relates an enlightening encounter that took place when he was on the teaching faculty of a large Ivy League university. A graduate student had come to him for help in dealing with severe guilt and sorrow over the loss of her fiancé. Despite Campolo’s efforts to comfort, to explain, and finally to argue her back into a state of revived faith in God, he knew he had failed. “I want to believe you. Don’t you understand that?“ she exclaimed. “But I can’t make myself believe it.“

Tucked away in the Texas Hill Country the Solid Rock ranch…