Yeah, all this business about facing ourselves is no small thing. Twentty-five years ago I cried out to the Lord, “Jesus, save me from ‘sex and drugs and rock’n roll’”, and now twenty-five years later I think I’m almost ready for the second conversion, the conversion of the “false-self.” That’s what we’ve been talking about and it turns out that the hardest “false-self” to convert is the “religious-false-self” because as my friend Wess Pinkham at King’s seminary likes to say, “That guy is ‘double-dipped!’” But hey, thats, what friends are for. We are helping each other to be honest in ways that we had never imagined. As for indebtedness, it’s mutual – you have been a true “mud-brother” to me for many years now – so grateful for our friendship!

C

I think until we mutually experience eachother (by sharing each others joys and pains) even in the “muddy” places of our lives we can never be fully present to each other. This should especially mark the life of the body of Christ…the church. I agree with you Chris. Confession must be vitally part of the life of the church even in the life of the “great man”.

Joe

Hi Ruthie, miss you girlfriend.

It’s just good to know that you’re out there.
Thanks for stopping by.

C

Good to hear from you. Thank you for honoring me and this blog-community with your confession. I hear the pain and the sense of loss. And yes, that is the amazing thing about Christ, and hopefully this little blog – he brings “ok-ness” to our brokeness. For so long, I was not interested in “ok-ness” for brokeness. My brokeness is such a source of shame that I either needed “miracle cure” or the ability to keep the brokeness concealed. Like you, I’ve been learning how to live in the tension and the promise of, “My grace is sufficient for you for my strength is made perfect in your weakness.”

Thanks for adding to the thread. Say hello to Daniel for me.

C

Oh, to be “identity driven” and not “ministry-driven.” As you know, that has been a struggle of mine for a long, long, time now. Like you shared with me recently in the Parable of Great Banquet (Lk. 14:12). The people who begged off the invitation were not “evil”, they were busy living their lives doing “important” things like running businesses and raising families.

Rather than cancel the banquet, the master does a radical thing. He ends up sending out invitations to the “poor, crippled, blind, and lame.” Now here is the thing. If I’m honest, I don’t want to go to a party with a bunch of “poor, crippled, and lame” people. I guess that’s because all my life I have been waiting for an invitation to the VIP party.

The people that you and I have admired and aspired to be have all been “great leaders” in the church. These are the men who, in my view, are anything but “poor, crippled, and lame.” These are men who command attention, dispense with wisdom, and who are adored by many. We have been discovering however, that there is a serious problem with the myth of “the great man” (especially the religious “great man”). One problem we have found is that our definitions of “greatness” and “success” are really antithetical to God’s (Phil. 2:5-10).

The other problem with “the great man” that you’ve pointed out is that when we allow “great man” to reign over us as though he were the head of the Church, we end up corrupting the Churches relational outline (Mat. 23:8-12), which is a Christ-centered-brotherhood. You are right to say that this is both a tragic loss of relationship and identity.

Keep the posts coming…