What do you do when you question whether God really exists? When you pray and wonder if anyone can hear? When you have trouble believing all the old religious formulas? When doubt creeps into your life and leaves you sarcastic and cynical about faith?
Often we keep our doubts to ourselves for fear of being judged by those who espouse certainty, or—worse yet—we abandon completely those convictions about which we're unsure. But the truth is that doubt can open the door for us to explore and grow in faith, to seek God more fervently and honestly.
This week, we reflect on the ways doubt can move us closer to the heart of God. We offer these readings with prayers for your journey~
Join explorefaith for A Conversation with Marcus Borg: The Parallel Teachings on Jesus and Buddha on Thursday evening, February 18 in Memphis, Tennessee.
Tickets are $25 each and reservations are limited to the first 150 paid guests. Click Here to learn more about this special benefit event.
Special thanks to Calvary Episcopal Church, an explorefaith Partner in Ministry, for making this event possible.
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Farewell First Sundays
After faithfully writing her popular "First Sundays" reflections for explorefaith for more than a year, our dear friend Phyllis Tickle will pen her last blog post for us in February.
We are humbled and thankful that she took time from her very busy schedule to grace our site with her perspectives month after month, and look forward to her continued involvement with explorefaith as an editorial contributor and adviser.
"First Sundays" will be archived on explorefaith for your continued enjoyment, and we invite you to return often to read and reflect on her insightful musings about all things religious.
Preparing for Lent
Stock your spiritual bookshelf with resources to enrich your journey through Lent. Visit the Lenten section of Church Publishing, Inc., explorefaith's Partner in Ministry, to see all their rich offerings for this season of reflection and renewal.
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The Value of Doubt
Rather than hiding or scurrying away when doubt creeps across our soul, we might see doubt as the very means for growing our faith. Doubt helps us to ask deeper questions, notice things that were invisible to us before, seek for what has been hidden, test what we have heard to see if there is any "sticking power" in it.
If we deny or run from doubt, we will always wonder what is or is not true. But, if we face our doubt, we may be surprised to find that faith is real. That God exists. That there is more to the formulas than we thought. That we are held in the palm of heaven's hand. That our certainty and trust have grown.
Yes, we may just find that faith is the best investment we could have made. We just couldn't see it until we passed through the rocky, inhospitable land of doubt.
A Prayer for Coping with Doubt Gracious God,
You speak in my heart and tell me to seek your face, and I am seeking—longing for the sureness of your presence, the touch of your breath, the warmth of your love.
In my doubt, O God, let your Spirit hover over me with the gentleness of angel's wings, until I am opened to faith and once again recognize the pattern of your face.
It's a thrilling time to be a believer and to so ground yourself in scripture and tradition that you are able to accept and be open to what other people are believing and where they are growing. To be open to what matters to them without the threat of the fact that you need to stop them or to destroy them…
This isn't a time to be afraid, this is a time to ground yourself more deeply in scripture and tradition so that you might hear how God might be using new voices, new ways of expressing spiritual realities to you and to me and to this nation. It's a time to be alive and excited about the presence of God.
Read more of Dan Matthews's
"Opening Our Ears to Different Voices"
Different Traditions, Similar Truths
If Jesus and Buddha met, they would recognize one another as fellow prophets teaching the same truths. Whether talking about love, wisdom, or materialism, the wisdom of these two great spiritual teachers from very different traditions guide us long the same path.
