misleadings

maybe you were in a similar spot
that i was in a few weeks ago.
someone, somewhere in a church
that i was attending,
decided to share a little prayer.
and in that prayer of innocence,
he quoted, almost with a sense of reassurance,
that "where two or three are gathered in my name,
there am i among them".

a bit of certainty overwhelms us
when we weave that promise into a prayer.
or bible study. or whatever.
it causes us  to realize that because two or more
of us have gathered in unison,
that god must be present among us-
because he said so.
didn't he?

but this statement is preceded by several others
that really has nothing to do with prayer,
or communally gathered bliss-
at least, not in the way we'd like it to.
in fact, it's a closing statement- a definitive exhortation-
that when we are confronting another about their sin,
that god is there among us.

essentially, this text is a set of basic instructions
on how to go about removing a sinful member
from the congregation.

and this little phrase somehow seems like a good idea
to quote when least applicable.

i can't help but wonder how many other phrases-
little shreds of promised hope-
that we blindly take out of context,
are out there?

how much of faith is dependent upon
and strategically structured around
randomly selected out-of-context phrases
that define what we label "christianity"?

someone once told me that if
what you believe is strong, true, and authentic,
that, when questioned and torn apart with doubt,
it will still remain.

i want a faith that let's me ask those deep questions-
and maybe i'll gain some answers.
or maybe i'll just have to learn to dwell
in the sweet silence of uncertainty,
all for the satisfaction of having asked the question
in the first place.

*all scripture content from matthew 18