Faith sift
If you have held a set of beliefs for a long time and adhering to those beliefs, or not, have determined if you are: acceptable, unacceptable, promoted, praised, punished, embraced, rejected, excluded, seen as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ by those in power or indeed by God himself; when you begin to question those beliefs, it can feel pretty scary and disorientating. Perhaps as if the rug has been pulled from beneath us or the world has been turned upside down. The certainty to which we once held wavering, the answers that once satisfied seem over-simplified and you are left no longer knowing what is true or what you believe or who to believe.
This process can be referred to as a ‘crisis of faith’, usually by those who hold with firm certainty to the beliefs we are perhaps moving away from. I heard author of ‘God is a Black Women’, Christena Cleveland, say of her faith deconstruction, that to question your faith was to be seen as unfaithful. A crisis of faith can be perceived as weakness, as if your faith is simply not strong enough, your foundations not deep enough.
But what if this was all a necessary part of the journey… I was reminded this week of these words by inspirational writer, speaker, podcaster and faith shifter herself Glennon Doyle in her book ‘Carry on Warrior’;
‘As Kathleen Norris reminds us, the Greek root of the word crisis is "to sift", as in, to shake out the excesses and leave only what's important. That's what crises do. They shake things up until we are forced to hold on to only what matters most. The rest falls away.’
A crisis of faith, faith deconstruction, or a faith shift in light of this, is an opportunity for a faith sift, a re-examination, a re-think after new experiences and new information.
Sifting through my beliefs has been an important part of my journey into inner freedom, growth and a deepening spirituality. An opportunity to take an honest look at all I live by, in love and without judgment, to do my inner work, re-discover my own soul and sacredness, find confidence in my own autonomy and voice. It has been an opportunity to reconnect with the earth, my ancestors, body, emotions and the world around me with humility, courage and wonder. An opportunity to embrace the Divine mystery of it all and Love.
Yet it is also a reckoning, deeply uncomfortable at times, with losses along the way. Grief is part of the process. It changes you permanently, the way you see, understand and how you live. You no longer fit where you once did, even if you wanted to. It leads you into different landscapes, wilderness spaces and there you meet others on the journey too.
It takes courage to lay your inherited faith and beliefs out on the threshing room floor. It takes hard work separating the wheat from the chaff or panning for flecks of gold amidst the stones. It is not the easy path, or for the faint hearted, it is the art of subtraction. It is having the courageous vulnerability to let go and to not know… to trust that what is of worth and substance will remain after the sifting. As Richard Rohr says ‘if it is the truth, it is true all the time and everywhere, and sincere lovers of truth will take it from wherever it comes.’
Christ took the disciples through a huge faith ‘sift’ that came to a head at Easter. It shook everything up, all they thought they knew and in the end they were required to hold onto what mattered most… all that Christ lived and died for…the most important thing…
Love.
And through my faith ‘sift, I hold onto the mystery, that somehow, when all else falls away, love will remain.
If you would like a place to process your changing faith - contact me to join a Faith Shift group.