The first thing that came to mind as I was reading this chapter was the sermon that our Field Education Director (Odette) gave yesterday in closing orientation worship. It was briefly summarized by a friend who wrote: "Faith is not certainty. Certainty is idolatry."Can you imagine how different our world would look if we became more concerned about worshipping certainty? There are too many fringe groups (and some dominant groups too) that hang their faith on knowing the Truth.
Instead of being Truth-claimers, let's become doubt-claimers. There are some people in this world who think they have all the answers. And I know, churches have really done a disservice in this arena, particularly over the last couple hundred years. Even the congregationalists who understood there was "yet more light and truth to break forth" from scripture laid a truth-claim once in a while. At the same time, though, truth claims aren't all bad. For example: Everyone needs to be loved and feel a sense of belonging. That's a truth claim. It's a tenet of my faith and I will take it to the grave. So perhaps it's more about when our truth-claims become destructive that we don't want to hang on to them. Because I do believe that hanging on to truth-claims is sometimes the only thing that gets us through the day, and if it's the only thing, then by all means, I am not one to take that away. (This is the essence of a much larger conversation regarding pastoral care...)
But most days, let's turn to doubt, because doubt turns us to wonder. "Doubt... is the mother of conviction. Once we have pursued our doubts to the dust we forge a strong, not a weaker, belief system" (15). It is doubt that helps us go beyond the words on a page and helps us not only ask the questions that are between the lines, but the questions around the margins of the page. While truth "reduces God to the exercises of a theological athletic field" (14), doubt allows us think more deeply, widely, abstractly, awe-somely, and wonder-fully about the mysterious God in whom we (sometimes) believe. When we limit ourselves to certain aspects of God we do more harm than good. No one person is limited to the ways in which they are perceived by others because we are all made up of many layers, stories, histories, and emotions. So too, God is unknowable. Instead of trying to give concrete labels to God, what if we opened ourselves up to believing that at every turn we were discovering something new about God-- just like when we are getting to know our partner... something new everyday!
Chittister finishes the chapter by writing this:
...Only the doubt that opens our hearts to what we cannot comprehend, only the doubt hta tmakes us rabidly pursue the ruth, only the doubt tha tmoves us beyond complacency, only the doubt that corrects mythologies is not worhty of faith can lead us to the purer air of spiritual truth. (17)
Take heart, take trust, and take faith in that God-- the one who continually surprises us and leaves us turning to wonder day after day.
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