This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
which is poured out for you.
-Luke 22:20b
Circumstances of fallen heroes, failing institutions, and flawed reasoning lead me to a place of re-evaluating my faith: Welcome to deconstruction. If that doesn’t sound like it deserves all the drama you’d think, you’d be right.
Deconstruction, while connected to Postmodernism (which is a whole can of worms, itself), really boils down to revisiting assumptions. And if that doesn’t sound as glamorous as you’d think, from all the noise you hear about Postmodernism, you’d be right, again.
Psychology has long known and taught that our minds are dynamic and that we learn and grow over time as we gain context from experience. This continual process of growth involves a symbolic death and rebirth pattern. By experiencing regular ‘little deaths’, you avoid the ‘Big Death’.
If this sounds ‘new agey’ to you, I promise it’s not. God designed you to confront and conquer challenges, to adapt and overcome, to succeed, to transcend.
You know this symbolic death and rebirth pattern is true by your personal relationships in those times when you didn’t deal with problems when they were small: You let them grow and, when it finally came time to deal with it, it was worse than it needed to be, and you felt terrible.
Deconstruction is really just the ‘death’ part of a healthy, continual renewal process. The upside is that this little death leads to a little rebirth, something you can handle. In other words, a renewal.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. -Romans 12:2
Notice it says ‘be transformed by the renewing of your mind’ not ‘renewal of your mind’. It’s continual. This ‘renewing’ is a pattern that you can repeat continuously, even if it is a little uncomfortable, because it is better than the alternative of a death you can’t recover from.
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. -Proverbs 14:12
But this is a story of rebirth, reconstruction, part of healthy, continual renewal. As Christians, we are gifted with great wisdom that teaches us how to go about this.
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. -Philippians 2:12-13
As we reach the final chapters, we’ll continue to ‘work out our salvation with fear and trembling’, with humility, and with an eye on the mark, an eye trained on God and what He has been telling us from the start.
This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
which is poured out for you.
-Luke 22:20b