Below is my column in today's edition of the Grand Haven Tribune. You can also read the column below.
“Father Jared,” she said, “my child told me they’re not sure they believe in God. I don’t know what to do.”
I smiled and said, “You know what? Sometimes, I don’t know if I believe in God either.”
She laughed nervously. “Father Jared, you cannot tell me that!” But I explained that this is simply part of the life of faith. Every one of us – including clergy – sometimes struggles with doubt. Because doubt isn’t a defect in the Christian life; it’s built into it.
We’ve sometimes been taught to treat doubt like a disease to cure, but maybe it’s more like a companion on the journey – one that keeps faith from growing rigid or self-satisfied. Any faith that can’t survive questioning probably isn’t faith at all – it’s fear dressed up in religious clothes.
So, when someone tells me they’re not sure what they believe, I don’t hear a problem to solve. I hear an invitation – to conversation, to honesty, to relationship. That’s why atheists and agnostics are welcome at my church. Because what matters most isn’t whether you can recite the Creed without crossing your fingers; it’s whether you’re willing to wrestle with the divine, to be open to wonder, to build community around love and truth.
John’s Gospel gives us two of my favorite examples of this: Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.
Some scholars divide John’s Gospel into believers and unbelievers – and say only the believers are invited into the kingdom. But that’s not what the story shows. Nicodemus, who first came to Jesus under cover of night, and Joseph, who followed in secret for fear of the crowds, are the only disciples who appear when Jesus dies. When all the “faithful” have fled, it’s the half-believers who come. They carry his body, wash it, anoint it, wrap it lovingly in cloth, and place it in the tomb.
They don’t proclaim the resurrection. They don’t yet understand it. But they love. And that love, John seems to say, is enough.
Faith and hope are important parts of the Christian journey, but St. Paul tells us the most important is love. Because even when faith fails, even when hope seems far away, love will still come to the cross and carry the body of Jesus to a tomb. Love will wash the body, anoint it with myrrh aloe and spices, wrap it in cloths and lay it lovingly in a tomb. Love will do all of this because love is stronger than even the feeblest of faith.
That’s one reason I’m so excited about what’s happening at St. John’s this week. On Sunday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m., C3 Spiritual Community has organized an event happening at our church building. They are welcoming the folk duo The Rough & Tumble for a concert built around their album “Hymns for My Atheist Sister & Her Friends to Sing Along To.” The songs are raw and human – written for anyone who’s wrestled with belief, belonging, and meaning in a complicated world.
I was particularly struck by the way C3 described it in their own publications. “The Rough & Tumble are walking a tightrope – not of neutrality, but of radical love that appeals to the heartstrings of a wide array of audiences – most poignantly in a time of a country critically divided.”
And so, my own devoutly Christian church is naturally delighted to welcome our non-religious but spiritual siblings and their friends into our own space for this event. After all, that’s what I think church is at its best – a space where believers, doubters, and seekers can gather around beauty and truth, even when we understand those words differently. Because when people who believe and people who question come together, each brings a gift the other needs.
The Church needs that kind of shared table – a place where faith and doubt, belief and unbelief, can sit side by side and listen to one another. The questions of the doubter often sharpen the faith of the believer. And the honesty of sharing your struggles as a believer can build a bridge of relationship with those who may have lost faith in God, but are still searching for meaning and love in a world that sometimes feel so dark.
I’d like to invite you to come on Sunday night. Sit among people who sing, question, and hope. Sit among believers and unbelievers and that whole mess of humanity in between who is searching for love in a world where it often seems in short supply. You can get tickets in advance at https://form.jotform.com/C3Michigan/hymns.
Bring your faith, your doubt, your skepticism, your longing – all of it is welcome.
It’s welcome at this event, hosted by a local spiritual community of folks who have stepped away from traditional religion. It’s welcome at my own church – a place of traditional worship and progressive action, a place full of faithful doubters and searching sinners.
Together, I think we can continue to find more meaning, more understanding, and more ways to love the way I think Jesus taught us to.
The Rev. Dr. Jared C. Cramer serves as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven. Information about his parish can be found at www.sjegh.com.
