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Reflect
What happens when you decide to get off the heaven versus hell expressway? You pull into a village for a bit of conversation and coffee. After a bit of Googling, you can find conclaves of holy hipsters gathering wherever espresso might be brewing. No hell. But after one theological circle jerk too many, you tire of a tattooed theology. You stroll down the road less travelled leads to nowhere. Next thing you know, you’re listening to Springsteen’s “Wreck on the Highway” wondering how you can find your keys lost amid mounds of Jesus junk.

But what if you stopped with the Christian clichés. Love doesn’t win even when it’s been repackaged in cooler clothes with Coldplay. And candles. Sprinkled with Žižek dust and other forms of Missional magic. Accept that your keys are lost. Put down that roadmap pointing you toward signs of certainty. Point your browser toward the Lasting Supper with David Hayward aka The Naked Pastor. Here you can join Christians, Muslims, nones, agnostics, atheists, Buddhists and others in a safe place to be.

David reflects on why he created this online community:  “In my experience, the biggest changes in my life and thinking occurred when I realize I might be wrong. Letting go of comfort and certainty can be very traumatic. For me, this feels like a radical tumbling over the waters in a kayak. The church doesn’t prepare people for this trauma of real life.  For me, the cross and the resurrection represent the metaphor of the death of certainty and the renewal of uncertainty. Everything gets held up and questioned with an open minded heart. By going through this crucible we can experience new life by going through the uncertainty and press into the question. The question is the answer. Come all you who question and this community will keep you restless. But you will find you are not alone.

Respond
What questions of faith do you struggle with. Write them down. Do you have a community or person with whom you could share your questions? Can you simply live the question?

-Becky Garrison

 You can read more on this subject here.  

(Yes, I know I am very critical of commercialized Christianity. But here David is offering his decades of service as a pastor at a very low price, so he can cover the basic costs of running this. Also, he wants to ensure that those who participate have a stake in forming this community. This is definitely not an author/speaker pay-to-play program.)