I’ve been reading Bonhoeffer again after spending a Saturday night in a crowded basement in the East Village for Pete Rollin’s Insurrection Tour.  Thought I would share this reflection.  As Pete says, “to believe is human, to doubt is divine.” Speaks to the strangely familiar way doubt seems to open me up to God.

Peace, Terry

“Religious people speak of God when human knowledge (perhaps simply because they are too lazy to think) has come to an end, or when human resources fail – in fact it is always the deus ex machina that they bring on the scene, either for the apparent solution of insoluble problems or as strength in human failure – always, that is to say, exploiting human weakness of human problems.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, p. 283.

Holy Ground

The congregation affirmed their faith

as they do each week with the Creed.

“I believe…” they routinely proclaimed

and then uttered that which in another

place would be quite unbelievable.

“Father almighty, maker of all

Son of a virgin…

crucified dead and buried” – easy to believe,

but “resurrected from the dead”… now that’s a stretch.

You know the rest.

An old man stood and interrupted

the familiar rhythmic chant

with a anguished whisper now

amplified by the dead silence

“How can this be?”

A teenager near the back

spoke in a clear unspoiled tone

“How can God have a son?

And … by a virgin?

Are you on drugs?”

By now all but the shocked,

paralyzed into silence, began

to also confess their doubts.

As if cork was pulled from bottled up

faith turned upside down, they spilled out.

Stories were shared that day.

Dramas played out.

messy, inconsolable, unsolvable

plots began to emerge

while many healing tears were shed.

Then suddenly the preacher tapped

on the microphone three times

to silence the cacophony

and began to lead the song

“Surely God is in this place…. Holy Ground”.

Some felt like it was a deus ex machina

meant to put salve on the

open wounds of doubt

and anesthetize what was

only but truly human.

Others breathed a sigh of relief

and went back to

the safe place between the

pages of their true and

tried belief.

Which ground do you

suppose was holy,

that is set apart for the Divine,

the solid ground of unfettered belief

or the ground that doubt opened up?

A deus ex machina is a plot device whereby a previously intractable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with an often contrived introduction of a new character, ability, or object. It is generally considered to be a poor storytelling technique by critics because it undermines the story’s internal logic, although it is sometimes employed deliberately for this reason.