I agree with Simon, that it is incredibly exciting to participate in deconstruction. It is indeed an “adventurous discovery” as Simon puts it. It has been so exciting in seminary for me to look into some of the myths found within the church itself- this deconstruction process has allowed for much freedom and life to enter into my faith, allowing me to “think for myself” really for the first time. Yet I am weary of taking this sort of deconstruction outside of seminary; one of the reasons that I have been able to deconstruct some of the binaries set by the church has been because seminary is an incredibly safe and structured place to be asking those questions. I fully understand why people outside of seminary do not want to engage in these questions: it is not safe, they don’t have the time to commit to it, it seems like it could destroy their worldview, etc… I do believe that we MUST engage in deconstruction, and I have seen immeasurable growth in my own life because of it, but I also think that it will be an uphill battle.
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Anniemclaren's Weblog 
March 3, 2008 at 9:15 am |
Thanks for your response!
I had a very nice week end, in the bay area.
I’m not going to post a whole entry to answer, but I agree… it is a tough battle. There is so much to reform and go against, so much to change and rethink, and talking about it in seminary is way easier than actually doing anything.
I’m hoping to go back to France and change the way some things work in the church there… i’m relying a lot on the fact that if I feel something is wrong, others will probably too, that are in my situation and don’t know how or if they should speak up. It’s not something we can do on our own… i think it would take time, patience, prayer and a group of friends and brothers to support us.
And God is good, He’s the one to do the changes, not us. He can just use us in great ways while we pretend we’re doing great things.