Snippet: Learning to Lament, Saving our Faith

snip·pet | ˈsnipit | noun a small piece or brief extract.

Here’s Joshua Ryan Butler on faith “deconstruction” after being hurt by the church or Christians:

“Church hurt is real. But deconstruction is a false cure. The gospel’s remedy is lament. …The solution to bad community isn’t abandoning community; it’s good community. A healthy treatment plan will eventually involve rebuilding a good church community with good boundaries and good leaders. No community’s perfect, but trust can be rebuilt on the other side of lament.”

His article addresses three additional causes of what many are calling “deconstruction.”

Unfortunately, the church hasn’t been very good at helping people understand and process these kinds of deep disappointments and on how to lament.

The Bible and the Psalms in particular are filled with laments.

I certainly still have a lot to learn about lamenting, especially as a church community. After the killing of George Floyd we did an entire service of lament, but we could learn to practice “micro-laments” on a more frequent basis.

Check out the article here: “4 Causes of Deconstruction.”

Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on Unsplash.