Religious Refugees: Constructing Toward Spiritual and Emotional Healing by Mark Gregory Karris

Author:Mark Gregory Karris
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781938480553
Publisher: Quoir
Published: 2020-05-20T22:00:00+00:00

As children we found ways to protect ourselves from vulnerability, from being hurt, diminished, and disappointed. We put on armor; we used our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors as weapons; and we learned how to make ourselves scarce, even to disappear. Now as adults we realize that to live with courage, purpose, and connection— to be the person whom we long to be—we must again be vulnerable. We must take off the armor, put down the weapons, show up, and let ourselves be seen.10

Perhaps at one point in your life, armor, walls, and shock absorbers were necessary. But I can promise you they are not going to bring you any lasting comfort or joy. If the thought of reaching out to other people causes you to cringe, I completely understand. Nevertheless, you are meant to be in community. You are biologically wired for intimacy—not meant to live life alone.

Richard Jacobson, an ex-pastor who had a crisis of faith and began to intently deconstruct and reconstruct what it means to do and be the church, wrote the book, Unchurching: Christianity Without Churchianity. Writing about community he states, “But if you are truly looking to apprehend what it means to become a genuine church community, it’s not enough to simply leave behind the institutional church model; you must become intentional about creating some kind of authentic community with other believers.”11 One of the blessings of going to church is the intimate relational bond that is formed with other people. One of the consequences of leaving the institutional church is the loss of some of those bonds. In order to heal and reconstruct our faith, we are invited to find a few people to walk alongside us on our journey. Yes, it will be hard. Yet, it will take intention. But for some of us, it is a life or death issue. Aloneness kills. Intimacy heals and brings us back to life.

It might be time for you to be courageous, take a risk, and commit yourself to practicing vulnerability with the members of your carefully handpicked unholy huddle. If you are inclined to hammer a Do Not Enter sign on the front of your cave and shut yourself inside, practice reaching out to others. Don’t travel the D/R road alone. Even if you think no one will understand you, it is better to take the risk, finding connection and support, so that you aren’t alone when Montu takes off at full speed and you get sucked into the vortex of yucky emotions and obsessive negative thoughts.

Just like Frodo needed Samwise and Gandalf, Batman needed Superman (even though he tried to kill him in Dawn of Justice), and the apostle Paul needed Barnabas and Mark, we are also going to need journeying partners as we proceed through some of the painful and disorienting experiences that are inevitable in the deconstructive and reconstructive life.

Let me share a beautiful healing practice and process your unholy huddle can be a part of to help you on your D/R journey.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.