These lines conclude a poem by Emily Dickinson:

But I, grown shrewder, scan the skies
with a suspicious air,
as children, swindled for the first
all swindlers be, infer.

There’s a recurring theme on pastor blogs:  a hunger for God coupled with deep discouragement over the institutional church.  These twin attitudes also mark the emerging church movement.  I wonder if many who went into ministry with idealism now feel swindled — we’ve seen too much of the underside of the church.  The dictionary says ‘swindle’ derives from an old German word meaning vanish.  With our innocence gone, we’ve grown shrewd and suspicious like the disillusioned children in Dickinson’s poem.

It’s good to be disillusioned.  Losing illusions brings wisdom.  It’s like the demolition scene in Makeover – the old house disappears before the new rises.