Pete Enns

Some would say we lost our faith, but the reality is we still desperately seek God and long for the ability to believe in his existence without having to bury our heads in the sand. God seems largely absent, indifferent, or simply on vacation to us anymore. I am currently reading Inspiration and Incarnation, but I’m wondering if you have written anything specifically on prayer and why most of the time it seems a fruitless exercise?

It is indeed a very lonely journey and we feel like lepers in a colony of old friends. We no longer fit into the “church” camp or the “secular” camp. We are in “no man’s” land. Our friends and family within the church wring their hands with a combination of concern, pity, withdrawal and (what feels like) concealed judgment.

Not wanting to be argumentative, combative, or insulting we have simply learned how to remain quiet and pretend around them. Thus, the reason for our slow withdrawal. It has felt like grieving the death of multiple loved ones. We live in a tiny community and all of the churches preach a conservative and traditional message. It has been hard to find anyone out there struggling as we are.