Holy Discontent: Embracing Discomfort as a Spiritual Practice
if you're not uncomfortable, you're not paying attention
Sometimes—often—I feel deeply uneasy about calling myself a Christian.
It’s a designation that has become synonymous with many attitudes and behaviors I believe are antithetical to the life of love and service that should denote my faith.
From partisan politics to “hashtag blessed” prosperity gospels to fear-based condemnation of difference and self-satisfied complacency—these postures betray the Way and, thus, the Waymaker. Those postures are NOT what I stand for and do not, more importantly, reflect the character of the God I’ve come to know and love.
I’ve become increasingly convinced that, if we’re not profoundly uncomfortable with the suffering and injustice in the world as well as the ways Christianity is used to contribute to or justify those wrongs, we’re not paying attention.
That’s part of why I’ve started calling myself an “edgy” Christian. I find myself in many ways on the edge of what this religion has come to represent and on edge about the way the “faith” is wielded as a weapon while calling it love.
This “edginess” does not extend, however, to the heart of my faith. Rather, it coexists with the “peace that passes understanding,” a peace founded on deep trust of my own (and everyone’s) belovedness, on the hope that, ultimately, all will be redeemed even though I can’t see it yet.
This juxtaposition of discomfort and peace, indignation and acceptance (though not complacency), is but one of the many paradoxes at the center of what I have come to know as Christian faith. That is to say, it’s one of many both/ands that intellectually honest, emotionally mature, actively compassionate Christianity entails.
I have more thoughts on this topic that I may share in the future, but for now, on this first day of Lent in the traditional church calendar, I wanted to put this out there for anyone who feels similarly—for anyone who also feels this nagging discomfort—but has perhaps wondered if it is only doubt in disguise or an excuse for feeling ashamed of Jesus.
If that’s you, please hear this:
Your discomfort is not a sign that your faith is weak but is, rather, a result of its strength.
It is a holy discontent, calling you to a deeper relationship with Love incarnate.
Lean in, dear one. You are not alone.
.
.
.
Ponder:
What might it look like to embrace your holy discontent during this season of Lent? How might God be calling you to let go of false comforts and confront complacency, both in your own heart and perhaps beyond?
It's sad the Christian evokes an image out of "The Righteous Gemstones" and not a sacrificial servant. Jesus warned us. Paul warned us. And yet, here we are, a faith of prosperity gospels and political enmeshment. The cycle continues.
You articulated the struggle well. How well are we living the love? I am a fringe Christian …since 1972 but no mistake. A follower of Jesus