The final break-through to fellowship does not occur, because, though they have fellowship with one another as believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners. The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everybody must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy. The fact is that we are sinners! Pg 110. Life Together
Pseudo-communities. These are where people pretend to live community. Everybody is polite and obeys the rules and regulations. They speak in platitudes and generalities. But underlying it all is an immense fear of conflict, a fear of letting out eh monsters. If people start truly to listen to each other and to get involved, speaking from their guts, their anger and fears may rise up and they might start hitting each other over the head with frying pans. There are so many pent-up emotions contained in their hearts that if these were to start surfacing, God knows what might happen! It would be chaos. But from the chaos, healing would come…and it is then that the miracle of community can happen! Pg. 33. Community and Growth
7 comments:
At what level is sin to be disclosed...
...I have read (I think it was from a monk long dead, but I cannot recall for certain the source) that sin should be disclosed at the social level in which it was commited.
Sins of thought confessed only to God and/or to a spiritual mentor. Sins against an individual of which they are unaware and which they remain unaffected by the sin (such as jealousy or bitterness) would fall in this category.
Sins on a personal level that directly impact another should be confessed to that individual (as well as to God and/or a mentor). For example a husband should confess to his wife when he is looking at pornography.
Sins on a social level that impact the group of which you are a part should be confessed to the group. For example being irresponsible with community property.
All of this is, of course, a general guideline and not be allowed to supercede direction from the Spirit to confess in a specific social circle...
...any thoughts?
I think the main idea is that most churches aren't places where people can actually confess sin; or confession of sin is looked down upon, since it would disrupt the delicate structure of our dream "pseudo" community. The church needs to be a place for the "undevout" as much as it desires to be for the "devout."
I think the dead guys idea is great, granted people are in a church whose relationships allow for discussions like these to take place.
I see that he who defines the terms still wins…or least offers critique. You know, I cannot think of a single relationship I have that would not be considered some fashion of a pseudo-community, that in some way falls short of a break-through to fellowship. Goal oriented arrival to some state of being, no matter how well intended, just seems unsettling to me. [this is usually where I’m told I missed the point, and I’m asked to get off my neighbors front lawn] I can’t really put my finger on IT (possibly some sort of social-psycho-spiritual characterization of a Jesus-centric life?), but I’m sure the Lord desires us to experience the intimate nature of his creation with those close to us. 1 and 3 and 12. Sometimes, I really think our brains are too big…the gorilla’s got a good thing goin’.
ooo-ooo
aaaa-aaa
eee-eee
Sir, would you please remove yourself from my pseudo lawn.
Great quote Nancy. There is no doubt that if we want "family" it will be organized chaos, but he (it) is worth it. Glad to see your a a blogger!
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