A great article about doubt forwarded by Kevin Visscher: http://www.cpyu.org/Page_p.aspx?id=261013 Reading it I was reminded of a song that James Ward recorded called "Maybe I'll Trust You Now." Christian radio stations refused to play it because it just wasn't positive enough. It displayed too much doubt and confusion. Frederick Buechner says doubts "are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving." — Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABC's of Faith. As educational leaders we feel compelled to come across to teachers and students as people who have it all figured out. We equate strength with having all the answers. It might be far more empowering to our students and those we lead, to speak from the heart about doubt.
2 comments:
Dennis,
Thanks for all this already. I too don't know that I fully qualify, although if being in the principal's office counts, I think I have been sent to YOUR OFFICE as a student (along with vice-principal Neil Matthew Beimers, when he was also a hall-stalking student), but I digress.
The subject of doubt is important: We join with other disciples in saying, "Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief." (Mark 9:24) Perhaps the most helpful way of framing this is to consider that doubt is not the opposite of faith, but it is a component of faith.
Of course, a wonderful, classic sermon by Harry Emerson Fosdick challenges us from wallowing in doubt. His sermon, “The Importance of Doubting our Doubts,” (from A Chorus of Witnesses, edited by Long & Plantinga) wonders if it isn't sometimes easier to allow our doubts to eat away at us than it is to examine - and question - the seeds of those doubts themselves.
I learned from a pastor-friend that praying through doubts (a la "Lord, I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief") helps us from trying to hide our doubts from God, from ourselves and from each other.
PEace,
Joel Ringma
I just remember that you were the one who pushed me out into the hallway...and then feigned innoncence while I was led by my ear to Oense's office.
At times, I see in my students a lot of doubt, but a sense that no one is guiding/walking with them. Sometimes we (me) encourage students to ask the "big" and "tough" questions, but then we leave them to blow in the wind as they try to unpack what all these doubts mean. I think then they do "eat away at" our students. I like the idea of examining the seeds of the doubt.
They really let you preach up there, eh?
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