For those who need to hear it, sometimes it is OK to walk away from your church, your community. It hurts too much to stay.
But don’t walk alone.
For the deep disappointment, disillusionment, and plain old discouragement, sometimes you need to get a little distance. Sometimes you need to walk it off.
For two disciples, after the crucifixion of Jesus, that was going back home to Emmaus.
And when starting the process of deconstructing faith, some of us we need to allow ourselves to walk away (as the first, but not the last, step).
That’s the first lesson we get from deconstructing faith on the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-34).
Lesson #1: It’s OK to walk away.
Why did these disciples leave Jerusalem?
• Maybe they were angry with the institutional power that killed an innocent man?
• Maybe they were angry with themselves for having hoped again, believed again, trust again—and it all went up in smoke, AGAIN!
• Maybe they were finally disillusioned with all that religious stuff (everything that Jerusalem represented).
• Maybe it was too painful to stay and relive the trauma of Jesus being killed.
• Maybe they were just DONE.
• Maybe it was just time to go home, back to the start.
On Your Road of Deconstruction
And I don’t know exactly what prompted you on this journey of deconstruction, what caused you to go for a walk.
It probably has to do with finally getting honest about a deep disappointment, disillusionment, or discouragement caused by other followers of Jesus.
It probably has to do with some crisis in your life that caused a crisis of faith.
A crisis just like these two disciples who had sold out for Jesus. And then Jesus is just killed and he is just gone.
And all their hopes are dashed.
And their faith is shattered.
But one things we do know about these two disciples.
They didn’t walk ALONE.
They didn’t just withdraw into solitude.
They weren’t shutting themselves off from others.
They weren’t shutting down what was happening in their hearts and minds until it bursts out in chaos—wrecking their closest relationships and loved one.
No.
They walked together, “talking with each other about all these things which had taken place” (Luke 24:14).
Sure, these two disciples were walking away.
But they were also talking it through.
They were processing their pain—so that they don’t pass the pain on. They opened up to a close friend, someone they could trust. They didn’t hide away while they walked away.
So, it is OK to walk away.
But don’t walk alone.
And be sure to also talk it out.
Deconstruction is a road to walk with others.
It isn’t a place to live alone.
[I’m going to spend the next two weeks drawing out short lessons from the Road to Emmaus about deconstructing faith. Pound the link to follow along.]
Also, check out these three videos that Sean Palmer and I put together on Detoxing Faith.