Doubt it, mate!

It's been a busy weekend... 

Saturday morning I drove to Hampton to help some friends from the Victorian Sea Kayak Club install a very substantial (and heavy!) motorized awning at David and Heather's new place.  David has recently had knee replacement surgery and I was glad we could help him out - he has been a very dedicated member of the club and continues to do his part.

Saturday afternoon I met with a young couple preparing to be married in January.  It was a privilege to help them along the journey and to see the good work they are putting in to give their marriage every chance of success.  

Yesterday we attended the wedding of a friend who was getting re-married in his early sixties to a delightful woman Jean - both had gone through some difficult and sad times in recent years and it was obvious that their new-found love and companionship was a remarkable gift of grace for them both.

In the morning I preached on the importance of doubt.  It's an interesting concept as for much of my early years of engaging with issues of faith and belief, I was encouraged to see doubt in a quite negative sense.  Over the past twenty years of more I have come to understand the necessity of a not only having a questioning approach to often complex issues, but have discovered to learn how to live with unresolved tension and to delight in the acceptance of 'not-knowing' and of the transcendent mystery that is God.  

Here are a couple of excerpts I have found to be helpful:

 It’s like a spiritual drought, a starless night of the soul, a low tide when faith seems to have retreated forever. Nearly all of us experience these dry, dark, difficult times when God doesn't seem real and it’s hard to keep going, much less growing. Sometimes these low tides of faith are connected with events … the death of a loved one, a broken relationship, the loss of a job, a prolonged illness, questions raised by a book or professor. But sometimes they seem to come out of nowhere; it’s sunny and bright outside, but inside you feel dark , cloudy, gray, empty... doubt is not always bad. Sometimes doubt is absolutely essential. I think of doubt as analogous to pain. Pain tells us that something nearby or within us is dangerous to our physical body. It is a call for attention and action. Similarly, I think doubt tells us that something in us … a concept, an idea, a framework of thinking … deserves further attention because it may be harmful, or false, or imbalanced. Brian Mclaran

 Frederick Buechner is one who does not live in the “everything is black or white” world of Simplicity. He speaks to those who struggle with the imperfections of humanity, who realize that in life there are no easy answers.

According to Buechner, we cannot really know that there is a God but instead we rely on faith to bridge the gap between doubt and belief.  Though we cannot see God, we trust that he is always there and that we can experience him through the experiences of our lives. As Buechner summarizes: “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.”

"Not the least of my problems is that I can hardly even imagine what kind of an experience a genuine, self-authenticating religious experience would be. Without somehow destroying me in the process, how could God reveal himself in a way that would leave no room for doubt? If there were no room for doubt, there would be no room for me."  

,.. This is Buechner's debonair definition of "doubt":

"Whether your faith is that there is a God or that there is not a God, if you don't have any doubts you are either kidding yourself or asleep. Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving

One of the most inspiring books I have read in recent years was written by Michael Mayne when he was Dean of Westminster Abbey.   It is written as a series of letters to the author's grandchildren, sharing with them all that has inspired their grandfather in literature, music and art.  The book's title is a phrase taken from a quotation from G. K. Chesterton:

"At the back of our brains, so to speak, there is a forgotten blaze or burst of astonishment at our own existence. The object of the artistic and spiritual life is to dig, for this sunrise of wonder."

I recommend the book, "This Sunrise of Wonder"  and another of Mayne's have been reading in recent days simply called "Prayer."