It wasn’t that long ago that the word “deconstruction” was almost never used. Then, almost out of nowhere, deconstruction was everywhere. It spread just as quickly as COVID. At the same time, I was coming to the realization that the Jesus I was reading about in the Bible was not the same Jesus I was hearing about on Sunday mornings. Sunday morning Jesus must have had to wake up early to get to church on time because he was angry. Jesus, in my Bible, the rest of the week was kind, humble, and seemed to really care about people. After hearing people talk about deconstruction, I joined the crowd. Soon, however, it seemed that deconstruction became synonymous with leaving the church. The church soon after that started declaring deconstruction evil. Never in my life prior to this have I seen a word go from non-use to use, seemingly changing definitions, and give me mental whiplash like deconstruction has given me. I went from thinking that my deconstruction had made me a better follower of Jesus to feeling worried that I was going to be reprimanded, judged, or asked to step out of leadership! After hearing someone say they had to “decouple” their faith from their cultural upbringing, I adopted the term.
I bring all of this up for the following reason: I have started to realize just how easy it is to misunderstand each other. Even when we are in the same culture, using the same language, the same words, we can still mean very different things. How important is it then to cultivate a sense of curiosity, and to stop from time to time and ask, “What do you mean by that?” Can you imagine how healing it would be for the church if we all started being curious about those who have different opinions rather than being offended by them?
Learning to Live 