Desert Faith

A lot of people seem to think that you can’t be religious, or have faith, and also have doubt or skepticism. Going to church means “checking your brain at the door.” The picture of faithfulness is of people marching in lockstep, following the rules, and getting security and comfort from big, strong, (misguided) preachers.

But there is another way of being faithful. I call it desert faith. Desert faith is risky. It means doubting the things you’ve always been taught. It means leaving the safe buildings of civilization and going out where there’s very little food or water, but where there are also very few distractions. Desert faith is a journey in clarity – in finding truth for yourself, and not just accepting it from someone else.

A desert faith story: after God freed the Israelites from slavery, she didn’t immediately lead them into the Promised Land. Instead, the people wandered in the desert for forty years. Along the way, they questioned God’s goodness and faithfulness all the time. They doubted. They were skeptics. They were not lockstep believers.

But over those forty years, the people grew up. They learned how to trust God, not just when times were good, but when they were bad, too. They had a mature faith because they had been willing to live with doubt and uncertainty for all that time. The forty years spent in the wilderness weren’t an accident – Moses didn’t have a bad map. God led them into the wilderness on purpose. During those forty years the people of Israel learned a new kind of faith – a desert faith.

(This wasn't in my ordination paper, but I wanted to share)