"The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry."
~ Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell To Arms



"Our lives disconnect and reconnect, we move on, and later we may touch one another, again bounce away. This is the felt shape of a human life, neither simply linear nor wholly disjunctive nor endlessly bifurcating, but rather this bouncey sequence of bumping into's and tumblings apart."
~ Salman Rushdie, The Ground Beneath Her Feet



Saturday, January 22, 2011

Crisis Of Faith...

"A crisis of faith -- when you seriously question whether what you believe/how you see/what you're committed to is actually true -- is a good thing.

It's not pleasant. It hurts. The ground goes wobbly. You may be reaching for sleeping pills or alcohol or a lover to get you from 2 to 4:30 a.m. each night."

~ Kent Annan

As I read these opening sentences in Kent Annan’s article, “A crisis of faith -- when you seriously question whether what you believe/how you see/what you're committed to is actually true -- is a good thing. It's not pleasant. It hurts. The ground goes wobbly. You may be reaching for sleeping pills or alcohol or a lover to get you from 2 to 4:30 a.m. each night.”

I was reminded of something Anne Lamott had commented on in one of her books – Anne had written about Bono’s two favorite songs, “Help Me Make It Through The Night” and “Amazing Grace.” Apparently, Bono had quipped that these two songs or the sentiments in the lyrics can get a person through just about anything and I would have to agree.

When I read, “You may be reaching for sleeping pills or alcohol or a lover to get you from 2 to 4:30 a.m. each night” I was reminded of Bono’s two favorite songs.

Another sentence of Kent’s, “Whatever causes a crisis of faith, there is often emotional, intellectual, spiritual turbulence along the way” is another way of describing what I have called vertigo of the soul. The rendering of balance and sense inconsequential, the dizziness of even standing becomes a burden. Often you find yourself on the floor, paralyzed and wrought with bewilderment and doubt – the confusing in-betweens of knowing and not knowing simultaneously.

I think that Jesus felt (at least I like to imagine) that he felt like this in Gethsemane and I believe he did which is why Brennan Manning has written about each of us at some point in our faith journey having to experience our own personal Gethsemane. And as we do, and while we reach for whatever it is that gets us through the ordeal - we know that in the midst of it God is is with us.

Read Kent Annan’s full article here: Embrace Your Crisis Of Faith

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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 26, 2011 at 1:42 PM

    "By God's grace we are able to glimpse the road that He points us to and are able to see that it is the only one worth travelling." F.Buechner
    (paraphrased)

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  2. Allison DennisAugust 17, 2012 at 7:14 PM

    I wish I had more free time. I could sit at your site all day and just drink and drink your cups of grace. As it is, I came here for an assignment for school. But I will be coming back day after day. So far, what I've read on this blog has hit me so personally. The only solution to "a crisis of faith" would be "a cup of grace." I'll be back for more.

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