I just want to say that the writings of Bishop Spong have been such a gift. They give me hope when I tend to think there is no hope that God can be imagined in ways different from institutional Christianity. I am a firm Christian but know that our thinking can be so limited. Bishop Spong’s writings echoed so many of the ideas that have become part of my faith journey. It was so wonderful to see them in his books and columns. I did not feel so alone. His ideas have nurtured my spirituality in so many ways that I cannot even begin to express. I am so grateful for the Spirit in him that he has shared with so many.
Dear Margaret,
Thank you for your comments. I find it fascinating to observe what institutional religion does to people. I get letters that say, “You have given me permission to think, to ask questions and to grow.” The implication is that their church communities have denied that permission and enforced it with a message of guilt.
Faith in the biblical narrative does not mean giving intellectual assent to propositional statements like those found in creeds and dogmas. All creeds and doctrines are human creations. Faith means having the courage to walk into the new, the strange and the unknown in the confidence that the power and presence we call God is not constrained by the human patterns of yesterday and thus can always be found in the changes that accompany tomorrow.
Faith is a journey into the mystery and wonder of God and that journey will always take us beyond the road maps of our human past.
Journey well!
~John Shelby Spong
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