Confessions

Thanks to Rick Stilwell, a very nice post from Ooze Blog, a great step to authenticity:
"Confessions of Leaders & Pastors Who Are Reimagining Church":
1. We'll confess that we are often cynical, whether it be from a past hurt or a Radical Empiricism.

2. We'll confess that we are often optimistic and hopeful. That it's our great love for God and Jesus as proclaimed in the scripture that propells us toward living the way we do, and believing about what we believe. Often this leads to Idealism.

3. We'll confess that in our desire for faithfulness and enthusiasm for new ways of living out the Kingdom of God, we are often guilty of the very same narrowmindedness that we say we have left.

4. We'll confess that we need humility in these matters. We need to hold great convictions and simultaneously live with, what my friend calls "a posture of I don't know".

5. We'll confess that we will likely do good, badly. That we will live rightly, wrongly.

6. We'll confess that we are optimistic about the mutual admiration of the various faces of the Church. This leads us to diving headlong into discussions on the Bible, the church and philosphy often with frustrating outcomes. Ironically, it is these outcomes that actually reinforce our cynical thinking about the Church, leading us toward narrowmindedness. (see #3)

7. We'll confess that we have nothing to prove, but we often live like we do.

8. We'll confess that it's hard to confess some of these things because we fear others will take them in a manner they are not meant and use them against us. (see #7)