Women of Repair (Part II)
By: Sharon Hughes
I love watching my young boys build with toy blocks. They carefully stack block by block only to revel in each piece of wood crashing to the ground. They are constantly in the business of construction and deconstruction, only to do it all over again.
Many of us are currently deconstructing our faith along with what has accompanied it over our lifetime. For some, we are tearing out the drywall of a prosperity-gospel that left us wanting when we went through a season of deep suffering. For others we are yanking out nails of patriarchy that has been a ticket for abuse against women in the church. We may be ripping off the roof of white evangelicalism that has permeated the church in America to the point of refusing to acknowledge the imago dei in all people. It’s quite possible that we are tossing the fame of Christian-celebrity pastors, who have failed us over and over again, into our hypothetical dumpster and shaking our hands of the dust.
We can take comfort that there is space in the Bible to deconstruct a faith built on a faulty foundation and we can see warnings against true religion vs. false religion throughout the Bible. In Isaiah, the prophet tells Ancient Israel that they have defined their own godliness and need to repent(Isaiah 58). In 1 Corinthians, Paul is warning the church of Corinth that they are not as wise as they think and that God chose the weak things of the world to shame the proud (1 Corinthians 1:28). And Jesus seemed to always be challenging the Pharisees about giving to the poor (Luke 12:33), giving voice to women (Luke 7:44) and warning against religiosity that ignored one’s neighbor (Luke 10:37). And these are just a few examples.
But where do we go after we have been in the mode of deconstruction? Do we lie in the rubble - perhaps considering a new structure altogether such as atheism, agnosticism, or humanism? Or, are we working towards reinforcing our true foundation with the goal of building again? As followers of Jesus, we can look to scripture to guide us.
In Luke 6:46 its says:
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like; he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.”
In Acts 2:42-47, we see early Christians living out their faith because they knew the blueprint God gave them. The death and resurrection of Jesus was their foundation and they had captured the vision of Jesus to build a glorious Kingdom - not one built on power and piety but one built on repentance (for both individual and collective sin), forgiveness, worship, the leading of the Spirit, generosity, justice, Christian community, a hunger for God’s word and the life giving reality of grace.
Like the early church in the book of Acts, do we both long for and live out the construction of the Kingdom? It’s easy to tear down all that’s gone wrong and want to walk away. And we need to give room for the hurt and the trauma that has taken place within the walls of our churches and faith communities. But He is calling me and you as Christ-followers to build on a foundation that will not be shaken, which is found in Christ. Who or what have you built your faith upon?
The deconstructing of faith is currently on trend, and rightfully so. But there is something deeply theological about Jesus whose life was dedicated to deconstructing sin, yet he continued to gather with his disciples to break bread, broken and needy people. He continued to worship God, sneaking away to find solace from the noisy world. He continued to pursue sinners - whether the tax collector, the prostitute, or the pious man in need of a Savior. He suffered, died and was resurrected, the furthest thing from a trend, in order to build His Kingdom free from sin.
I hope my boys move beyond building with toy blocks. I hope they learn the trade of construction: to pour cement into deep cavernous holes where the foundation of their structure can be sound. Because when the foundation is sound, a lasting structure can be built, even in the midst of rubble.
