Julie Ackerman Link has spoken once again to my experience as a teacher. She wrote:
Some of us may feel pressured to be perfect when we go to church so that people will think well of us. Metaphorically speaking, we work hard to make sure we have every hair in place. But a healthy church is a place where we can let down our hair and not hide our flaws behind a façade of perfection. In church, we should be able to reveal our weaknesses to find strength rather than conceal our faults to appear strong (http://odb.org/).
This week, one of the discussions in my classes is on impression management and a student wrote about the importance of impression management in church because it was horrible to feel judged in church. I agree - it is horrible to feel judged because being judged rather than loved flies in the face of everything Jesus taught. Considering the serendipity of this - I have to wonder what I am meant to learn here. Feel free to comment - I'd love to continue this discussion and see where it leads.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Is your student young, Nancy? Based on the teens and young adults I know/have known, that's a common feeling. The beauty of attending a given church for years and years is summed up in a quote by Lisa Simpson, upon learning of her father's proposal to move to a new city: "But everyone here KNOWS us. And has forgiven us."
ReplyDeleteI know at our church, we call it being transparent, when somebody is brave enough to share a struggle. Its such a helpful thing to do! We've had people confess about eating disorders, parenting struggles, temptations with pornography, addictions of all kinds. And it just makes it easier for others to exhale and admit that they struggle in the same way, and thank you so much for being the first to talk to about it...;-)
I'm not sure how old she is. It would help her to read about your experience. Though I do remember wanting to fly to Florida to give a member of your church a good talking to on this topic a while back - which just goes to show that any group of humans is a group of fallible creatures.
ReplyDelete