Out of Sorts - A Lenten Devotional Week 3

In chapters 5 and 6 of Out Of Sorts, Sarah talks about the Church and about community. With both of these, she in her true fashion, emphasizes how natural it is to feel like you don’t fit in or you don’t belong. In her reconciling her relationship with the church she has to be authentic about the things that were great and the things that were not. Like any relationship, she wants to be honest and real. 
Sometimes with the church she felt lonely- she felt like she didn’t fit there. There was such an emphasis on tradition and institution and fitting into the religious box. She realized that it was in the messy, dark moments was when she most found God. It was in the uniqueness of one’s story that made it sacred.
When it came to community she had similar reflections. Often in the church, community was stressed so much and there was an assumption that you would find that with the people in your same life stage and for her that just wasn’t true. She also found that in her time away from the church she was able to create community outside of the church and that community can be found anywhere.
Church doesn’t have a monopoly on community but community can be found there. For her this was liberating because it meant God was bigger, liberating- Community didn’t just have to look like small groups at church with people who maybe she didn’t feel connected to and that was okay. That doesn’t mean you are doing church wrong or you throw church away, it just means you have to reframe what Church is. 
All of these reflections and realizations are the work of deconstruction and to some, reading them might make you feel uncomfortable. That’s okay. Sarah has done the work of reconstructing and she’s confident in her faith now more than ever. Having ownership and authority over your faith is a beautiful thing.
As this Lenten season continues, what might you be willing to question and reflect on in your faith journey that hasn’t really been working for you?