Milwaukee airport is famed for its amusingly named “recombobulation area” at the arrivals lounge. They know that for all of its wanderlust, air travel can also leave you drained and disoriented. After the security checkpoints, departure lounges and immigration controls, who wouldn’t appreciate a space to decompress and ‘recombobulate’?
The same thing can happen on a faith journey. Especially if you’ve been willing to revisit and rethink some areas of belief that you once took for granted. Sometimes called “deconstruction”, the hope is that new and healthier forms of spirituality can emerge from the rubble.
Many of us at Harbour Faith Community have been on this kind of journey. Sometimes called “Progressive Christianity”, what we have in common is a desire to keep moving, keep learning and keep growing.
Like any significant journey, it is common to experience moments of exhilaration and also loss – a sense of progress and also of disorientation. Especially as you try and “land” somewhere, the discombobulation can really begin to set in as you emerge into the arrivals lounge of a country you find compelling, but that you also vaguely remember being warned about.
Where am I now? Am I still ‘Christian’? Where do I go from here? Am I supposed to have new “beliefs” to replace the old ones? What are the boundaries of this new land? Do I need to learn the language – or are we creating a new one together? Is someone in charge here? Does this mean I am postmodern, post-church, post-evangelical, post-Christian or post-belief?
Welcome to the “recombobulation area”.
Over the next several weeks, from now until the start of Advent on 03 December, we will be holding space for weary travellers to collectively pause and take stock of where they are now. Each Sunday morning we will reflect on one key area of ‘faith reconstruction’ that tends to typify the experience of those who have progressed beyond the belief systems with which they began their journey of faith.
Whether you are a Harbour regular or you have been curiously observing ‘from the wings’, now is an opportunity to take a breath and gain a better feel for the shifting terrain under your feet. This is not a journey any of us can take alone and we need each other to keep ourselves honest and authentic along the way.
Starting this Sunday, all are welcome to bring your questions, your learnings and your doubts as we step in the recombobulation area together.
Grace and Peace!
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