The Lectio Letter - Issue #84 - The Way On Is Not The Way Back - Mapping the Seasons of Faith, Pt. 3

“We cannot escape most of the crises in our lives, nor should we. In fact, these events frequently provide the energy for movement on our [Christian] journey, even when we are stuck along the way... we ask questions about our own life. We wonder about meaning. Our present view may become inadequate. We ask deeper questions.”

— Janet O. Hagberg, The Critical Journey

Liam: Then, We can meet God in Jesus afresh.

Welcome to Issue #84 of the Lectio Letter. This members-only newsletter is filled with music, film and food suggestions, links, and an article written by yours truly.

As the picture above indicates, we have been travelling which is why this third and final part of this series is coming to you soooo late.

I had written a draft of this final part before we left South Africa over three weeks ago but could never find the margin to ‘tidy it up’ before it headed over to my dear friend and editor Jilly (who is on her own globetrotting transition!).

A few times when writing a Lectio article, I have resolved to send it once it was ‘good enough’. But with this series, I am aware I am reflecting on experiences that are sensitive and present for a number of you who are reading this and didn’t want to risk a “half-baked” version of this closing piece.

But now, that we are home in South Africa and I had a little more time to edit it I realise the joke is on me because reflections that seek to capture the broad brush strokes of the journey of faith can’t help being anything other than ‘half-baked’.

That is not to say that I don’t have some deep conviction and intuitions that what I’m writing is representative, but it is little more than that, representative. A patchwork of observations from my own life and those I’ve walked closely with. I hope it helps, it was at least helpful for me to write it.

So this is Part III of the series called “Mapping the Seasons of Faith”. In the first part (which you can read here), I reflected on the sweet beginnings of faith. Everything seems exciting, simple and unreflective. Put simply, Faith is working for us. That is, we love God and the new community we’ve become a part of because it is filling a deep need within us. There is nothing wrong with that, it’s the only place to begin, after all so many people who came to Jesus during his earthly ministry came with their needs. But Christian faith is about more than just meeting your felt needs and sooner or later, a lever-version of Jesus, who does what we ask when we need it no longer helps us grow into mature followers.

In Part II I unpacked how the early season of faith gets troubled by suffering and pain which I named the “immovable object”. I argued that there lies a deep temptation to sidestep this pain by adopting a new kind of “religious-meaning-making-system”.

That is, a way to make sense of life, which may not be overtly religious, but is religious in the sense that we give our lives in devotion to it. This might be a social justice issue, parenting, career or another explicit religion, but it supplies the same meaning-making structure we need for life.

In this final part, I explain why I think that is a mistake and while there are many factors around us worthy of blame, we ultimately need to take a sense of responsibility in our responses to what lies ahead in order to grow into a mature follower of Jesus.

Whether you become a paid subscriber or not, I’m very grateful to each of you who read and respond to this newsletter.

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