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Nearly Losing Faith
“Effort” said the fourteen-year-old. It is the one-word response I get from my teen when I suggest some idea or adventure. In six letters, he means to tell me that it is too involving, requires some uphill climb, changes in his lifestyle…so, no thanks, mom (any other parent of teens know this one-word phenomenon, admittedly a step up from ‘the grunt’?).
This is the word that came to my mind as I thought about how many of us feel about keeping the faith these days: it takes a lot of effort. Of course, we don’t come out and say it, since any faith commitment understandably requires — commitment.
But with all that we are dealing with now, we just want our faith to be a source of comfort and solace, but it feels like a battleground these days.
These are indeed times of reckoning.
Even for the most tech-savvy, showing up over Zoom isn’t the most enjoyable experience. The need to pre-book a seat for on-site services feels foreign and grates against our sensibility that we can waltz into the church, which should be a welcoming space. To continue to show up we have to battle our base instincts to take the easy way out, also known as sloth. We also have to rethink some stuff, for example, if we will bother to book a theatre ticket or a meal in advance, why not a seat in church?