Revolution, resolution or reconciliation?

I haven’t written in a while, but as always reading other people’s work always inspires me.  Just like Brad did, this is unedited and freely written, so may have problems w/ flow or comprehension problems for others; I admit what I understand may not always come out in intelligible ways!  But this is more for me than you anyway, you are just the lucky bystander who happened upon my brain dump.

This is my response to Brad’s blog:

I’m in 100% agreement on this in terms of relationships in marriage, pre-marriage, and friendship.  I had never considered this but it is probably true that the relationships we are in in our church or work or wherever are what keeps us rooted to that entity.  The breakdown for me is applying this to other situations.  If these relationships, which are so fragile, are what’s holding together the bond to the bigger entity (church, work) then we’re basing our faith or employment or place of belonging in our relationships with other people.   Is this true? If so, that’s a concept I don’t agree with.  Our faith is rooted in trust in God, not in trust of other people.   We don’t go to work because we seek relationships, but rather a paycheck.  If we rely on friends to supply us financially we’re really trusting in the wrong thing.

I admit that in the past damaged relationships have led me to leave a church.  Currently I am not happy about many relationships I have w/in the church body, that I have worked on for a long time to repair to no resolution yet I have decided that my personal faith and that of my family and community as a whole should not suffer because of these difficult relationships.  The relationships may be beyond repair now, but that doesn’t mean I have to separate myself from the larger entity where the relationship began.   Or is that the point; that despite failed relationships and the fragility of them, we should keep on moving and doing our best to repair and even if we are unable to revive those relationships we should not give up on the first love that brought us together?   Hmmm….lots of food for thought.  Thanks!

I definitely feel like my current broken relationships within the church body are affecting my faith, but I know they should have no bearing on that larger relationship.  One or two bad apples shouldn’t ruin the whole batch.   Although it’s so hard to move past that; especially when it means having to deal with those people in order to continue serving and worshiping.   How do you continue to serve with those who have broken your trust or treated you badly and still find that joy that you once had?   Walking away is almost always easier.   But it still leaves a whole when you can’t find someplace else to serve that gives you that joy.   A battle I feel like I’ve given up on.