Integrity

     As you know, I am impressed with the strength and health of the Reba church. One of the messages recently has been about how God hates a life that is very different on the inside than on the outside. God detests worship from people who ignore the poor, or who maintain grievances with their brothers.

     So then there is a lot of ugliness inside – inside of the individual (i.e. me) and inside of the body or community. If all we do is cover over that, fake it, ignore it, then we are not living according to what God wants. Sometimes it takes another trusted adviser to call me out on a vice I am entertaining. Sometimes another person’s confession can lead me to my own.

     Ahh how we avoid the difficult conversations that separate authentic from phony! It is so much easier to keep on faking it. Until the double-life, the duplicity causes us to grow numb or freak out. We aren’t meant to live a double life. It is so much more painful to deal with the truth.

     I love that this place is more about practicing the Gospel than proclaiming it with the mouth, or developing good creeds and right answers through the head. We have people who will confess their sin, and a congregation that believes in sin, but also in forgiveness and restoration.

     Getting out of the duplicity is painful and vulnerable and all, but we should not fear the pain. The way out of it is through it.

     These are the messages I am learning through life in community. I would not learn this in our former situation, so I am thankful that we moved.

I hope the readers will find this encouraging, and maybe deal with some secrets of their own.

JWM