TOO MANY SECRETS - by Calvin
Beyond finding the real Jesus, many people just want to find a place where they can be real. A sense of belonging and feeling accepted are basic emotional and spiritual needs. Spiritual growth happens best when we are around people who will love us along the way on our journey with Jesus. But that won't happen so well unless we are in a place where its OK to be real.
The apostle Paul admonishes us to, "Share each other's troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ." (Gal 6:2 NLT) And the apostle assumes that the local church is a community of people where we find a level of love and grace such that we can be this real. Unfortunately, that is not always the case.
Frederick Buechner, in his personal memoir titled "Telling Secrets," sums up the problem pretty well. "The church often bears an uncomfortable resemblance to the dysfunctional family," he writes. "There are the unspoken rules and hidden agendas, the doubts and disagreements that for propriety's sake are kept more or less undercover." In other words, our local church may not be a place allows us to be real.
How can we share our troubles and problems unless we feel free to express them openly? There are just too many secrets among God's people. But it shouldn't be that way. Jesus allows all people, even the worst sinners, to be real. He does not judge sins. Jesus forgives, instructs, then gently and humbly guides a person back onto the right path. That's exactly what the apostle Paul had in mind.
Would you like to find a Christian community where you can be real? Ask, and it will be given. Seek, and you will find. Search the valleys and the mountain tops until you arrive in a place where the grace and the love of Christ abounds. You'll discover that Jesus is more real in a place where you can be real.
By the way, you're free to be real on this blog. Comments and questions will be received in the love of Christ.
At His Mercy,
Calvin
The apostle Paul admonishes us to, "Share each other's troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ." (Gal 6:2 NLT) And the apostle assumes that the local church is a community of people where we find a level of love and grace such that we can be this real. Unfortunately, that is not always the case.
Frederick Buechner, in his personal memoir titled "Telling Secrets," sums up the problem pretty well. "The church often bears an uncomfortable resemblance to the dysfunctional family," he writes. "There are the unspoken rules and hidden agendas, the doubts and disagreements that for propriety's sake are kept more or less undercover." In other words, our local church may not be a place allows us to be real.
How can we share our troubles and problems unless we feel free to express them openly? There are just too many secrets among God's people. But it shouldn't be that way. Jesus allows all people, even the worst sinners, to be real. He does not judge sins. Jesus forgives, instructs, then gently and humbly guides a person back onto the right path. That's exactly what the apostle Paul had in mind.
Would you like to find a Christian community where you can be real? Ask, and it will be given. Seek, and you will find. Search the valleys and the mountain tops until you arrive in a place where the grace and the love of Christ abounds. You'll discover that Jesus is more real in a place where you can be real.
By the way, you're free to be real on this blog. Comments and questions will be received in the love of Christ.
At His Mercy,
Calvin
I agree 100% with this blog. I also really like the idea of praying that God will help us to find a place where we can be honest. I am convinced a local church should generate a general environment that encourages open, honest, and safe communication. However, most subjects that fall in to this criteria are not best shared in a large group. Local churches can help the most by developing safe teams or cells people can be in. I just wish a higher percentage of teams really would offer when the blog is describing. Great blog! Keep it up!
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Thanks for your comment Doug. You have an excellent point about small groups within a larger church context. There is a reason why Jesus called an inner circle of 12 disciples although he had more than 70 in all. It's hard to keep intimate relationships in any group much larger than that. You are very wise about developing small safe teams or cells. Christ is with you.
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I don't think that secrets are the problem, but rather church-wide judgmentalism.
We don't know how to let people share their failings because we are so conditioned to both "be perfect" and "hate sin." We cannot take it when someone in the body admits to a life that doesn't live up to an ideal only one man in history has actually lived up to.
We throw around pithy sayings like, "Hate the sin, love the sinner," but I've rarely ever seen that practiced.
I'll go even further--church, more often than not, is the one singular place where we CANNOT be real. If we did, we would no longer be welcome.
My non-Christian friends don't judge me the way my Christian friends do, and as a result, the real me comes out far more often than with those in whom I am supposed to find the greatest freedom and liberty.
It's not supposed to be this way. And it's up to me--one of those aforementioned offenders--to make it right, to stretch toward that ideal...
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Thanks Brandon. These are good observations. I even know a pastor who was ridiculed for discussing his failures from the pulpit because some members of the congregation felt that such admissions tarnished the church's reputation.
We all have failings so even the Church is not perfect, but I agree with you. Let's make it right and stretch toward the ideal.
I continue in travail until Christ is formed in the people who are called by his name.
At His Mercy,
Calvin
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