Elemental: S2 - Introduction

In Elemental, Season 1, we introduced a challenging idea—that it’s appropriate to inspect our faith. It’s ok to note inconsistencies, conflicts, and even ideas that don’t seem useful, unearth difficult questions, admit confusion and doubt, and sometimes take the Lego® blocks of our faith apart. We’re calling this uncomfortable examination deconstruction, where questions are a typical, even essential, ingredient in belief and spirituality. And we landed on the notion that trust, rather than certainty, is the goal of Christianity.

Early in our spiritual journey, everything makes sense. Things are black and white. Then, one day, confusion sets in, and conflicts emerge. The children’s story at church proclaims that God protects all who follow Him. Just pray and ask Him for what we need. But then we find ourselves standing at the graveside of our faithful mother who lost her battle with cancer at too young an age, despite our prayers. Maybe we engaged in a conversation over things that had always seemed obvious—abortion or sexual identity; creation, evolution, and science; organized religion or politics; and something suddenly felt off. Was it a new argument we never considered, or a persuasive person successfully toppling the arguments we’ve always used? Suddenly, what used to be evident and true becomes muddy, cloudy, and unclear. Our beliefs feel undone.

So, we deconstruct, taking one block apart from the others, turning it over in our minds. This is normal. This is good. The Bible reminds us, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding…” (Proverbs 3:5) This verse implies you will always have misunderstandings that surface, points of confusion that remain. Still, trust is always available, and it is the key to our spirituality.

Is it possible that faith and doubt are not enemies—that one doesn’t destroy the other? Could it even be that faith and doubt are good companions? Maybe doubt is an inevitable part of this broken world to which faith is God’s answer. Hebrews 11:1 subtly refers to “being sure of what we hope for”. Seriously? Which is it, are we sure, or are we just hoping? On the one hand, the difference is night and day. Or does this verse announce the Christian dance between doubt and faith?

Of course, our goal isn’t to wallow in a deconstructed graveyard of yesterday’s thinking. Nor will it do to give in to our confusion. Rather, God would have us take things apart so that He can help us put them back together again, however often that loop might be required. And so we launch Elemental, Season 2, a time of reconstruction. We’ll walk together through the rubble of our deconstruction and sift out the most elemental building blocks of our faith—those pieces that form the foundation, erect the walls and shape the roofline of belief.