Deconstruction unmoors us, it leaves us drifting aimlessly through our questions and struggles. Yet these questions or struggles are rarely answered or addressed; rather, they are displaced or abandoned.. . .But what do you do if you don’t want to deconstruct your faith?
Hope
A Light in our Darkness
The life of faith isn’t always straightforward and clear. There are times when life seems to zig when we wanted it to zag; where suddenly the path before us disappears, and we find ourselves feeling stranded and alone. But the light of God’s loving mercy shines upon us no matter how dark things appear.
Death and Life
We sometimes forget the extremity of Jesus’ language. For Jesus, the cross is hard and cruel. It was not an easy thing to carry. For Jesus, the cross was the place of his rejection and death. It is to this place that Jesus bids us to follow. Is it any wonder, then, that the cross is hard reality in our lives? We feel it viscerally pressing against us. The cross upsets our lives. What is more, taking up our cross means we may need to walk with it for a while. This can be involve walking a difficult and sometimes lonely path. Yet despite all of this, taking up our cross is an act of radical hope.
The small brightenings of faith
Faith isn’t lived from the miraculous to the miraculous. Sure, Moses’ had an experience of the Burning Bush, but his faith in God only grew in the 40-year slog of an everyday journey. More often than not, our faith is couched in the ordinary. Our faith grows amid a life where nothing miraculous seemingly take place. Why, then, do we make such miraculous experiences the definitive mark of faith?
Never Forgotten
The question that often plagues us is, how can we know that we are never forgotten? How can we know beyond a doubt that God’s gaze is continually directed towards us? Happily, God answer this dilemma.
God answers the prayers we have lost the hope to pray: A guest post by Marie Loewen
It would be years before I came across that reading again and the reminder of a prayer I lost the hope to pray. A prayer that God answered in a way I could never have imagined. My dear ones had not only made peace, but now laughed together and cared for one another.
Believing You’re Beloved – A Guest Post by Molly LaCroix.
Molly LaCroix writes: The (often young) wounded parts of you are the ones who believe things like, “I’m unlovable,” or “I’m not good enough.” They think it’s their fault bad things happened, that they are defective. Until their wounds heal, you will struggle with fully accepting God’s gracious, unconditional love.
In Conversation: Wil Hernandez
Henri Nouwen is one of the authors I read a lot from. His words plumb the depths of the spiritual life in profound ways. So, when I started dreaming of my parish's Lenten program for 2022, I knew that I wanted to structure it around the works of Henri Nouwen.
Red Doors & Black Fences
Each time my wife and I stepped out of the house, I’d ask to how far she believed she could walk. We developed our own lingo. One day her goal would be “The red door”; the next day, “the black fence.” These mini-milestones marked her progression; they served as guides, leading her on.
In Conversation: Mark Buchanan
When I began having these conversations around the notion of spiritual discouragement, I knew that I wanted to involve a conversation with Mark in some way. Gracious as always, he made time in his busy schedule to record this conversation. I know that you will be blessed by our conversation.
Reverend Kyle Norman 