Many people have questions about God why does He allow bad things to happen to good people, what is the purpose of worship, how do you know if youre good enough . . . and the list goes on.
They are questions that people have asked for generations and centuries untold.
A safe place to express those thoughts and feelings has been the Theology in the Wild group that meets at 7 p.m. at The Scoreboard on the second Wednesday of each month. This month theyre meeting on April 9.
I want to provide a safe place for people to ask questions we dont always have the answers, said Michael Mornard, who launched Theology in the Wild about two years ago. We want people to feel its okay to be uncertain, to have questions. Theology means words about God and that covers a lot of territory. Mostly our goal is to be a safe space where people can have doubts and not be afraid of expressing them.
We want people to feel that its okay to be uncertain, to have questions, he said. Mostly its a place to explore in a kind and relaxed situations. Theres also coffee and soft drinks, too, he added.
Mornard, whose wife, Jean, is a priest at Grace Episcopal Church in Huron, patterned the group after one he attended in New York when he and his wife both attended seminary of the Episcopal church. He also has a masters degree in congregational development.
They moved to Huron 12 years ago when his wife accepted the position at Grace church.
Groups like this started when we were in seminary, it was a thing in the younger generation on the East Coast that was usually called Theology on Tap, he said. Young priests get out in the community and hang out at a coffee club on a certain night.
We want to make sure people in recovery feel welcome, so we didnt want to go with Theology on Tap, Mornard said. We decided on Theology in the Wild. We wanted some way of getting across the point that its a chance to meet up and discuss theology in an informal setting.
Mornard said their goal is to provide a safe space where people can talk about anything having to do with God.
That includes the fact, unfortunately, that some folks have had very bad experiences in churches, he said. We have one rule that is we must treat each other with courtesy, respect and kindness.
Sometimes people just sit around and talk, but over the course of the evening, at some point, the conversation will turn to something that has to do with theology.
The group is open to everyone, and they have a core of six to eight that attend regularly.
Sometimes we talk about something really deep, Mornard said. If folks come in with other than Christian traditions, or no traditions at all, we would love to hear from them, too. Different people think different things. That is okay, as long as its done with courtesy, respect and kindness.
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