Warning: Deconstruction Ahead (Part 3)
For the past two weeks, we have been exploring the concept of deconstruction. Today, we finish the series.
In the first email we looked at two questions: What is deconstruction? and Why does it happen? We reminded ourselves that God can handle our questions, doubts, or deconstruction. It does not change the way he feels about us.
In the second email we asked the question: How can the church help people deconstruct in a healthy way so that they stay attached to Jesus and land in a healthy place? We reminded ourselves of the wideness of the historic Christian faith and the fact that we can trust Jesus for someone else’s journey.
In our third and final email on this topic, we’ll finish answering this same question.
HOW CAN WE HELP FOLLOWERS OF JESUS DECONSTRUCT IN A HEALTHY WAY?
There are four attitudes that will help make the church a safe place for deconstructing followers of Jesus:
1. Love: This goes without saying, but here I am saying it anyway. The follower of Jesus deconstructing before your eyes is a person you are called to love. In fact, Jesus says this istheway the world will know we are his, by the way we love one another.
Plot twist: If we can only love and accept those Christians who think like us, we are the ones who actually need to deconstruct.
2. Grace: Closely attached to love, grace includes an attitude that allows others to explore faith without getting clobbered. Deconstruction can be messy, and not everyone goes through it unscathed. We need to withhold judgment while people are doing this difficult work.
What we don’t realize is that the more ungracious the church is toward those deconstructing, the more likely they will detach from church at the end of the process.
3. Ability to understand the difference between Christianity and Christendom:Often the biggest issue deconstructing followers of Jesus have has nothing to do with God. Rather, their issue lies with God’s followers. The church has done some very amazing things as the body of Christ on earth, but we have not always behaved well.
Let me say this again before moving on. The church has done some amazing things. Throughout history God's people have brought hope and comfort to dark and ugly places, and God has used the church to bring beauty up from the ashes of human pain and suffering. The Kingdom of God is flourishing and will not be held back.
But we the church have not always loved God or others well, and we need to own that.
Christendom is what happens when the church focuses on cultural power, political power, or functions as empire. The church has never done a good job reflecting the sacrificial love of Jesus when it behaves this way.
It’s ok for someone to call out the church on this behaviour, because they’re right. Therefore, let us remember a critique of the church’s behaviour is not a critique of God. We don’t need to defend God’s honour by defending a church behaviour that is not in line with God’s character.
4. Boundaries: Deconstruction isn’t a free-for-all attack on the church or Christianity. As mentioned previously, the orthodox Christian faith is wider than our lane, but it still has boundaries. A safe community is one that lovingly holds those boundaries of orthodoxy to help guide the deconstructing Christian through the process.
This does not mean that people can’t ask questions outside those boundaries. The early church had many of these explorations from its participants, and having those questions asked helped the church determine what was indeed orthodox and what was not. In other words, historic Christian faith developed out of people asking questions and testing the boundaries of faith, and the church holding the essential boundaries. As mentioned in the previous email, deconstruction forces us to decide what is essential and what is secondary.
Within orthodoxy, local churches may have more narrow boundaries (because they have robust and articulate statements of faith). Because of this, I must point out a possible outcome of the deconstruction process is it may lead the individual to a different local community of believers that better reflects their new understanding of following Jesus. This can be extremely hard (which may be one reason we avoid deconstruction).
But let us remember local churches are still part of theChurch. We give grace to each other because we understand each local incarnation of the body of Christ on earth is (hopefully) doing its best to listen to and obey Jesus to the best of its understanding.
Deconstruction is happening all around us. It may be happening to you. It can be scary if it's our entire faith construct (which is what the term usually applies to in this context). But sometimes we need to deconstruct / unlearn smaller things too.
I have never met a mature and gracious follower of Jesus that at some point in their journey did not deconstruct at least a little bit in some way. It may have been a major deconstruction (their entire faith construct) or a minor one (changing the way they think about one certain issue or belief), but they came to the point of realizing that they did not know all the right answers and we’re open to unlearning and changing.
PAUSE and REFLECT: Have you picked up some beliefs about or actions toward God or others that do not reflect the heart of God or serve his mission on earth today? In other words, what is God inviting you to unlearn and change (i.e. deconstruct) in the way you think or behave?
Also, how might God want to further develop one of the above four attitudes in you this week so that you can be a safe person for someone who is deconstructing?
Deconstruction can be scary when it happens to us or to someone we know. Thus, throughout the entire process, we cling to Jesus. Let us remember:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
~ Lamentations 3:22-24
No matter your place on the deconstruction journey, or your place in the lives of those deconstructing around you, God’s love is steadfast and his mercies never come to an end. Therefore, he and he alone is our hope.
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Photo by Karl Raymund Catabas on Unsplash