Shhh! You can’t say that.
May 28, 2008
I stumbled upon a very interesting blog post recently. It was at Anne Jackson’s blog, FlowerDust.net.
The post, Keeping Your Mouth Shut, simply asked people to share some of the things that they don’t feel they can say in church or to other Christians.
At last check there’s around 180 responses from people with everything from plain old whinging to some revealing comments about the fear of being vulnerable.
I think it’s essential reading for anyone in church leadership. I don’t care how wonderful you think your church is, there will always be people who feel they just don’t measure up and they feel powerless to express their doubts. Anyone who thinks that no one in their pews is thinking some of these things is kidding themselves.
Surely the church should be a place where we can be open and honest in sharing the highs and lows of our journey.
There are humorous comments like this:
That comb-over really does need to go. Someone might lose an eye on a windy day!
And this:
That sometimes when there is a dramatic pause in my message, and I look like I’m waiting on God to give me something really powerful to say, I’m not. In reality I’m just wondering if I zipped up my zipper before I went up on stage.
To heartfelt messages like this:
I currently feel NO connection to God when I pray or read the Bible.
And this:
When I say “I’ll pray for you.” I don’t usually mean it. I have been a Christian for 27 years and I still don’t understand the point of praying.
My regular Wednesday morning guest on 98.5 Sonshine FM is Ross Clifford who is the Principal of Morling College in New South Wales and current President of the Baptist Union of Australia. Each week we chat about a range of issues relating to spirituality and belief.
Today we took a closer look at the things we don’t say in church and discussed some of the reasons we’re not as open as we should be.
You can hear our discussion by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.
Are there things you feel you can’t say in church or to other Christians?
Posted in Radio
content rss
May 28th, 2008 at 11:24 am
May 28th, 2008 at 11:37 am
May 28th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
[...] discussion is great though. take a listen! Posted in Church [...]
May 28th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
anne’s blog is great, make sure you stay connected to the conversations on there!!!
May 28th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
[...] and i just had to check it out!!! here a post that she had a while back was featured today on a blog in australia…and not only on the blog, but on a radio talk [...]
May 28th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
When I had wrote the “I current feel NO connection to God when I pray or read the Bible”, I was(still am) going through some pretty heart ripping stuff. I continue to stay in pray, I continue to read scripture, not because I can feel Him now, but because I know he is faithful, and is still there even if I can’t feel Him.
The journey is not always easy I’ve learned, and sometimes it hurts beyond what I ever imagined. But God is faithful.
Again, thanks for talking about this and seeing the importance to discuss it.
http://www.vagabondrunn.wordpress.com
May 29th, 2008 at 5:37 am
Very entertaining!
May 29th, 2008 at 6:01 am
Yes, I intend on keeping up with Anne’s blog. I’ve added it to my Bloglines subscriptions and to the Blog List in my sidebar.
May 29th, 2008 at 6:03 am
May 29th, 2008 at 6:08 am
I can’t decide whether to buy the talking Jesus doll, the talking Moses doll or the talking John Paul II doll.
May 29th, 2008 at 11:13 am
First time on your blog and I look forward to coming back again real soon. Keep up the great work.
May 29th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Ross Clifford, who I was talking with on the radio, has a very amusing zipper story concerning Josh McDowell. He didn’t just wonder if his zipper was at half mast, it was and he didn’t know about it.
I look forward to seeing some more of your comments popping up from time to time here at my blog.
May 29th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
May 29th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Sure, there are black and white issues in life but there are many shades of grey which makes some people nervous. Trying so hard to convince you of something often has a lot to do with their own doubts and trying to convince themselves.
May 29th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
May 29th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
May 30th, 2008 at 5:02 am
[...] HT: Rodney Olson [...]
May 30th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
May 30th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
May 30th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
May 30th, 2008 at 10:47 pm