I don't really know, but I figured if I have to write a weekly newsletter anyway, I might as well put that up here, and then if I have something that I want to write, I'll have a venue for it. So assuming all goes to plan, I should have one update a week, though it is geared more towards a short article for the church that I am ministering to, than an internet audience.
Anyway, here is the first:
Honesty
I am currently reading a book by an author name Anne Lamott titled “Grace (Eventually)”. The book isn’t about anything in particular, and is framed in such a way that each chapter is a short story about the author’s life, detailing a particular event, or giving some idea of what her life was like in the past. I don’t agree with Ms. Lamott on many things, and we are not similar in many ways, yet I think there is value to her book. While I do not agree with many of the things that she says, or does, there is value to hearing another person present their thoughts and ideas. In some ways, it is especially nice since she is not right here, I can’t get into an argument with her about some of her ideas. Instead, though I disagree with her, I can only simply accept her for who she is. She is not ashamed to let her readers know her mistakes and is straight-forward about the blunders that she has committed in her relationships with her friends, her son, and with God. Perhaps it is easy for her to exercise this self-disclosure because of the distance that is put between her and her audience due to the nature of books, but I think that perhaps she realizes the importance of being honest.
Being honest with the people that you are in communion with is no simple task, it is a risk on your part, and it takes a listening ear and a non-judgmental mindset from the person that you are being honest with. It would be much simpler if one could control all of the variables, but being honest requires you to lay yourself on the grace of the other party. But there benefits from being honest, for one thing, the pressure that we put on ourselves daily by acting to be something, or someone that we really truly aren’t, is lifted. But there are benefits also to the person to whom you are being honest. Perhaps it would provide a good learning experience on exercising grace, but it also opens the doors for more honesty. The more honest that we our with ourselves and each other, assuming we all keep in mind that we are to be filled with the grace of God when dealing with one another, the better off you and I and the community will be.
Honesty isn’t simple, and it isn’t always welcomed with open arms. One should not expect honesty from the beginning of a relationship either, trust needs to be built, but if the mask never comes off and the walls come down, the trust that is needed to be in true community with one another, the community that is part of being the body of Christ, will not be built and our mission on Earth to show others the grace of God, becomes much more difficult.
