Being able to participate in various conferences and presentations is one of the joys of these days when more opportunities have moved online. Last year, I signed up for the Festival of Homiletics. I bought the package where I could view presentations at any point, and I have yet to do that. This year, I signed up for the free streaming option.
On Tuesday, I heard a great presentation by Brian McLaren. I suspect it's a distillation of his latest book Faith After Doubt: Why Your Beliefs Stopped Working and What to Do About It, but it was still a great presentation.
He says, "It is not doubt that harms your faith; it is dishonesty about your doubts." Well, I haven't had much problem with being honest about my doubts. Happily, he didn't spend too much time on this point.
Instead, he talked about the 4 stages of modern faith/doubt and their characteristics:
1. Simplicity: Dualism. Faith in authority figures. Faith before doubt.
2. Complexity: Pragmatism. Authority figure as coach. Faith managing doubt.
3. Perplexity: Relativism. Authority figures as iconoclast. Faith falls apart.
4. Harmony: Integration. Non-dualism. Authority figures as mystics, visionaries and saints.
McLaren cautions that if we live too long in the land of Harmony, we can find ourselves back in a place of Simplicity, that unquestioning assumption that we know it all. He also says that a vast majority of churches and individuals are at stage 1 or 2.
He addressed preachers and pastors specifically, saying that we need a plan for guiding through stages of doubt. He reminded us that we're likely to have all 4 types in our pews, and we need every sermon that we preach to address all the stages, to affirm and challenge each stage:
1. For people in Simplicity, we can encourage learning, stressing growth, not perfection.
2. For people in Complexity, we could model unknowing as we present options. We could present literary literacy (instead of fact-based truth) and curiosity.
3. For people in Perplexity, we can offer meaning but not factual truth, reverence in the face of mystery. We can stress radiance and depth.
4. For people in Harmony, we can offer different contemplative practices like those of silence and the arts.
As I was listening, I was scribbling notes and thinking, some day soon, I could be preaching more often. Let me take good notes! But perhaps I should also read his book.
He concluded with these wise words, both for those of us preaching sermons and for those of us living our lives in other ways: Emphasize what needs to continue--de-emphasize what doesn't need to continue, de-emphasize and replace what doesn't need to continue.
It was a great presentation. I'm really glad I had a chance to participate. I'm even happy for virtual participation--it's great to see how the form can work (more notes for a possible future of designing online enrichment).
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