What you see or hear is what you get?
One of my big asks of Church is clarity. I enjoy messages that are straightforward and not esoteric.
I like to fact-check what I hear with what I read in the Bible. I'm also a stickler for grace -- if such a thing were possible. I like to ensure the code the preacher expounds is verifiable by who turns up regularly in the pews. And that sinners are treated fairly.
Straight away, it appears that my definition of a good church may make me appear a little self-righteous.
When you deal with with strong undercurrents in church that spell DANGER
Arguably, I carry higher demands of church since I was bruised by it.
Once bitten, twice shy, and all that.
Sharing my personal story of hurt and betrayal by the church is probably more compelling than reciting a wish-list of desired traits for a church to have.
The problem here is the number of people who have turned away when I have told my story.
There is a misfire, or I haven't found my right tribe.
We're all in this together?
I got a mail to my inbox that claimed 1/1000th of letters are opened and acted upon from companies selling products.
I'm not a for-sale, I'm a person who acts and reacts to my life as if it were a story and I am the lead character in it (as we all do).
I know mine is not the only story the creator is whispering into being through his divine plan.
Whose is the ultimate truth?
I am part of a larger tapestry, but my couple of frames have me in them and I want to make them count for something.
The problem with stories is they are falsified at times. Even when dealing only with ourselves we know we cannot always be accurate in how we tell our tale.
But I cannot tell a narrative of what happened to me without a beginning, middle and end that will let you make up your own mind if it's true.
And I have to be judge and jury for my own integrity as well as I try and find my voice and ask “to whom do I belong?”
Whose we are has a big impact on how we tell the story.
Silence is golden?
A painting has a frame, and a story has a medium. There is a gamble in writing a tale.
Good stories trigger strong emotions. I can guarantee someone will click here who won't like it.
If you are telling a tale and it's not a dominant one, and your audience finds it difficult to step into, there is a high probability you will be disbelieved.
But it won't help you GROW
This is especially true with factual stories because we hear them in a register of our brain that is searching for analysis, evaluation, and confirmation of the truth.
Our mind hopes to defend our body from alarm and upset. On the other hand, I need to tell my story to someone (a therapist, a friend, a pastor) because my body is still healing from the trauma and stress it went through (and is still going through every day, in a way that is pertinent to it, and causes disease).
Shock! Shock! Horror! Horror!
So, victims are at high risk of disbelief because their stories are frightening. Victims shake our ideas of what is right, and put our audience in a zone they find uncomfortable.
Every story needs a resolution.
A storyteller has a burden to solve the problem they have offered.
Here is what I want from a church: I want clarity that Jesus is the answer to my victimhood. Ironically, because I am the storyteller, this is also what a new church demands from me.