August 6th

Blessed are the Undone

To my dear TFMC family,

At the MC Canada Gathering this summer, I was intrigued by a book I saw there, Blessed are the Undone: Testimonies of the Quiet Deconstruction of Faith in Canada.  Two things interested me about this book, first, it’s written from and reflects the Canadian landscape of faith, something that’s normally difficult to find.  And second, it was about folks who have stepped away from their faith for one reason or another, and this was something that I thought might be helpful for our summer worship.

When I first started working on our summer worship series, I had two foundational thoughts.  The first was to hopefully help folk reconstruct some of these words, phrases, or terms that may be hurdles in their faith life.  I thought that by exploring these words, it may help us in our growth and engagement with faith.  

As I read, I realized that what I thought I knew was wrong.  The authors identified some common struggles that folk deconstructing their faith usually cite as a reason why their faith isn’t working for them anymore.  

These struggles included how the Bible is held and read; whether it’s a literal interpretation, or an emphasis on the inerrancy and infallibility of scripture; that the Christian faith and colonialism formed a close relationship, evidenced in the church’s historical support of residential schools; and the marrying of church and politics.

People were also reacting to the purity culture emphasized by mainline evangelical churches.  And along the same vein, there were responses to the church’s positioning, or lack thereof, concerning the welcome and inclusion of LGBTQ2S+ folk, or as the authors call it, the Rainbow Battles.

A dominant reason for people had nothing to do with church theology or practice; rather, it had to do with the church’s culture, power, and authority, specifically concerning Clergy Sexual Abuse.  This came up several times throughout the book, and many cited the example of Bruxy Cavey to emphasize how church culture can enable this.

I had encountered folk wrestling with each of these struggles in one way or another over the last decade.  And any one of these on their own is significant, and I can understand why folk could, or would, walk away from their faith.

The book, however, didn’t leave us there.  Using the image of moving camp, they talked about how when we move our camp, the first step is to tear down, and then we journey to a new site, and once there, we set our tent back up again.  

They highlight that there is hope, folks are looking to the ancient church for inspiration, and while organized religion might hold flaws, Jesus doesn’t.   But folks are more wary of organized religion. People are still yearning for a place to belong, for a connection to the divine, and for a place where they can join in making the world a better place. The question we’re left with, the question I was left with at the end of this, was how might we respond?  How might the Anabaptist/Mennonite faith meet some of these needs?

Yours,

Craig Janzen Neufeld, Pastor