It may be just that I find the topic of particular interest, but I love to converse with people who have left the faith/church and are or are not returning. I love to know why, what happened, and what's still drawing them even after being deeply wounded.
Jared Herd's book More Lost Than Found provides a companion on the unsteady ground of a faith journey. I respect his honesty and appreciate that not all of the questions he presents have easy answers.
A few of my favorite parts:
"Paul was willing to let things be ambiguous and undefined, to let the Good News shape people where they were instead of indoctrinating them in a cultural framework that made no sense."
"Because the journey began two thousand years ago wasn't to become more sacred. It was to walk closer to what is true."
"He doesn't force us to paint over the mess either. He allows things to be ugly. He doesn't work around reality-he works with it."
"The spiritual quest begins when we assume something we can't see is more real than what we can."
"Jesus, who died a horrible death himself, didn't deal in pithy comments and trite explanations that skirted gritty reality. He faced them; and sometimes he did nothing. He just let it hurt."
Amen to that.
It's easy to read with a nonjudgemental tone. I want to put it into the hands of everyone I've talked to lately who has said in one way or another, "Church hurts too much. I'm never going back."
*For Thomas Nelson
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