Today he brings up the point that even in church, when we should be at our most open, we tend to give the pat answer rather than truth. When our brothers and sisters in Christ ask us how we are doing, we all to often answer with, "I'm fine". Yet as Jared puts it:
But most people are not fine all the time -- in fact, most people aren't fine most of the time -- and "How are you?" is the deceptively simple way we share our hurts and fears and struggles with each other. And it helps us pray with and for each other.
I admit that I am often guilty of this. I wish I could be more open, but it seems that church often doesn't foster an atmosphere of openness. I'm not exactly sure how we change this, but one thing I've noticed in my own church may be a start.
At our evening service we always end with a time for people in the congregation to share concerns and then we pray as a church for them. I've noticed that during these times people begin to let down their guard a bit. I've even done it myself. Once you have prayed as a group for someone, I think it begins to open the door a bit more into that person's life. This formalized time of sharing may be what we need to jump-start a sense of openness throughout the church. It allows us to tell our congregations that we are not "fine" in a way we may not be comfortable doing one-on-one (though hopefully it leads to more open one-on-one conversations eventually).
Anyone else have a similar situation in their church?
No comments:
Post a Comment