A Note from Sarah -Disillusioned...

Recently my friend Bill Huffhine posted a letter from Sarah on his site at: epicaugusta.typepad.com (A must site to visit). Sarah has written a new book entitled "Dear Church! - Letters From A Disillusioned Generation" by Sarah Raymond Cunningham. You can buy this book and check other stuff out on her site: www.dearchurch.com . What you are about to read is Sarah's own words describing her experience with the Church. Her book reveals the feelings and experiences of twenty somethings. We better listen. Thanks Bill for putting us onto this excellent and revealing resource. Read and weep with me!

Sarah Raymond Cunningham writes:"Disillusioned with the church? Believe me, I know how it feels...and I truly wish I didn't.I wish I could tell you that every moment of my church involvement was pure euphoria, one spiritual rush after another. High upon high. But there's no Super-Christian fairytale here. My journey is not quite that romantic.Life is hard. Christian life is no different. It is hard too. That's not to discount Christ--who sources us with truth and leads us toward fullness. But to acknowledge that I'm human and the other people who are teamed with me are human too. And that, sometimes, this makes for one very human church-sized mess.

More than once, I have laid in bed at night physically drained, emotionally wrecked, and relationally torn apart by some painful church experience. I've lost sleep, shed tears, made hard phone calls...and often still felt like I came up empty, short of a solution...and sometimes short of others even acknowledging that there was a problem to begin with. I've been sad. Not just normal sad. But deep down, in-your-soul sad. The kind of grieving that happens only when you believe SO HARD in the Church, when you invest SO HARD in the Church, and then the very source of hope you so strongly identified with seems to unravel in your hands.

I've been ridiculously disappointed...let down by people I respected in ways that rocked me so hard it was almost embarrassing. I've looked them in the eye, talked to them, felt their hurt, heard their perspectives and walked away with shreds of my heart in my hands.

I've been jaded. Holy cow, you guys, I've been so furious at times. My disillusionment has made me cynical and skeptical--not in the cool, edgy "push-the-envelope" way, but in a way that made me wish I could return to being innocent and idealistic and believing the best of everything and everyone.

Some moments seemed to cost me so much, it lead me back to questioning parts of my worldview. Like the church and its role in it. What does going to church service every Sunday morning really have to do with anything? I would ask.

I could not believe, I mean, I was seriously dumbfounded that Church--a concept that had brought me so many amazing previous experiences--could dig that deep inside of me and then hurt me. It killed from the inside out.

Whew. Sounds terrible and over-exaggerated to those of you who aren't disillusioned, right? But to those of you who are in this phase now...who are frustrated beyond belief with church...you know, don't you? You "get" it.

I almost hate to revisit those times, even for the book's sake or for this website. But I do it for a reason more worthwhile than selling a few books.

I want you to know that, one, you are not alone. And two, more importantly, that if you stumble through this stage--even imperfectly--and keep on interacting with God at whatever level you can, your disillusionment WILL NOT go on forever. The way you feel now will not be all you'll ever know of life and faith. This stage will not forever usurp or delete all the good you've ever felt in the name of Christ and his mission.

You WILL feel hope again.

I won't lie to you. It may hurt for a while still. And even when you pass through it, you will probably encounter other painful experiences in the future. But I'll give away the ending of the book before you ever read it: Jesus is the hope of the world and he told us, the minute he first used the word "church," that evil will not prevail against it.

Outside of any organization or local congregation, you are the church, my friend. And evil will not prevail against you.

I hope this book and this website will breathe fresh air in this difficult stage of your journey. But they alone will not right all your wrongs. What you need now is quality time with patient friends who share the faith, room to sort out your frustrations and ideals before God, space to examine the church and yourself, and honestly...you need some time to pass.

There is a time to mourn. But there will be a time to laugh again. Be blessed, you who mourn, for my God will comfort you. (Matthew 5:4)"

Much love,

(