Elemental Season 1 - Day 30

Some fear deconstruction because they are afraid they might lose their faith. However, we are confronted with a much greater issue; the fact that the faith of many people is simply slipping away. Without delving into the deeper questions that we might have, faith becomes more and more irrelevant to our lives and then we simply move on from a very frustrating relationship with faith, church, and sometimes God. 

Have you ever heard someone say, “God and I are good, I just don’t want anything to do with church?” if you have, then you know someone who was seen their faith flip away into irrelevance and while they are not necessarily upset with God, they are more than willing to walk away from the structures in their life that are not bringing abundance, but rather judgment and frustration. 

It is not unreasonable for people to simply walk away from faith and the faith structures in their lives when they simply don’t work. Often, churches and institutions have blamed the person for not trying hard enough, or for not really believing at all. I think that is a mistake. 

I think that the process of deconstruction does not always lead to deconversion, and true deconversion is extremely painful and traumatic. However, the path of least resistance is much easier. To simply allow that part of your life to slip away isn’t cowardice or fear, but it is a reasonable response for those who are not willing to go to battle with the church or faith structures in their lives. In some ways, it is the opportunity to change what those things mean in our lives. And sometimes, we need to do that in order to really examine our faith. 

The only problem is that when we allow things to simply slip away we are not as motivated to go back and do a post-mortem on what happened to that relationship with God, with the church, or with those communities and structures in our lives that have caused this irrelevancy. 

What are you currently doing in your life to make sure that you don’t simply slip away, but you continually engage in the difficult work of deconstruction? 

1. Is your faith still relevant to you? 
2. Is your church? 
3. How can you confront issues and questions you might have?