It’s OK to Go Back to a church, to community, to seeking, and trying—to trying to believe.
To walk away to create distance for honest processing of disappointment, to admit that you don’t understand, to listen to others—that’s OK.
And to return is OK too.
Community is hard to leave.
And it’s hard to return.
When you leave a community you might feel you are betraying them (maybe they told you that and pushed you out [I’m sorry if that is you]).
And after a little while you find a “community of deconstruction”, and you walk with them for a bit.
But eventually, like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, something happens, they encounter Jesus. And this encounter prompts a return.
They go back to Jerusalem.
FOR MORE ON DECONSTRUCTING FAITH, see these 5 fundamental shifts while deconstructing faith.
LESSON #6: It’s Ok to Go Back
The two disciples encountered Jesus through that Jesus-y practice of the Eucharist.
And what did they do?
“They immediately got up and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them” (Luke 24:33).
They didn’t wait…
• to have all their questions answered.
• to have all the issues resolved.
• to understand everything.
They went back because they encountered Jesus!
The questions, disappointments, and issues were still important. And they still needed to be addressed.
But that didn’t all need to happen on the road to Emmaus. Those might be better answered back in Jerusalem—with others who had encountered Jesus.
Because it is Jesus who gave them…
• a new way of understanding everything that happened,
• a new way of read the scriptures,
• a new way of reading their own lives,
• and a new way of experiencing the world.
Not A Betrayal of Deconstruction
To go back doesn’t mean you’ve betrayed the process of deconstruction. It might mean you have done the work, and will continue to do the work.
To walk away to create distance for honest processing of disappointment, to admit that you don’t understand, to listen to others, is OK.
And to Go Back probably means you are on your way to moving from propositions (ideas) back to a person (Jesus).
And that’s what these disciples needed—to see Jesus again, just Jesus, as he is, carrying the wounds of his death and the glory of his resurrection.
I’m going to finish the week drawing out short lessons from the Road to Emmaus about deconstructing faith. Pound the link to follow along, and to learn about “Deconstructing Faith Without Destroying it.”