The Larger Narrative

When we fight amongst ourselves to prove our individual stories, within which we hold our understanding of our God’s supremacy and authority and power and perfection, we are mocking a generous God’s story of love, universal invitation, and ultimate, timeless personal sacrifice. The trauma of Jesus as God is healed when our human compassion connects with his. The love that flows from that union powers the healing of our communities, cultures, ecosystems, and our planet as one interconnected, interdependent story - where everyone belongs and the hierarchy of power is transformed into a sacred family into which everyone and everything is already adopted and loved. 

The value of deconstructing faith and church is like taking apart a falling-down barn built with old-growth lumber. We get rid of the broken, rotted parts and reorganize. We ooh and ah when we find the solid beams and the well-designed elements. Then we take all that is healthy and lasting and build something by blending our evolved understanding of construction technology with timeless craftsmanship. The deconstruction is to find all the healthy stuff, separate it from the unhealthy and reconstruct something better. It is a repeating cycle. 

There is a lot of deconstruction embedded in the message of Jesus that I think we missed. His invitation to repent was about leaving outdated and unhelpful human ways behind. But he was not pointing to a new way. He was pointing to and endlessly explaining THE Way that had been the way the whole time. The repeating patterns we keep discovering with our microscopes, our brains, hearts, and bodies, and our telescopes are evidence that there is a timeless, boundless way. 

Divisive fighting amongst ourselves about ANYTHING is evidence that we have turned away from the larger narrative.

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