Warts and All

In the time of Oliver Cromwell in Britain, it was customary for noble people to be painted by portrait artists. Much like today’s obsession with airbrushing and “Photoshopping” images of celebrities and models, the painters would ignore any ‘blemishes’ in their subjects and paint them as they would look were those blemishes removed. Apparently, when Cromwell was sitting for his portrait, the artist began to paint him as he usually would, but then Cromwell, who was not the most beautiful person to have graced the planet, instructed the painter to paint him “warts and all”. The story goes that he insisted that every blemish be included in the painting or he would refuse to pay the artist for his work.

It still amazes me that when we gather for worship we so easily believe that we can present ourselves to God as an “airbrushed” version of ourselves. We may dress in special clothes, sanitise our language, and hide our fears and angers behind smiles and light banter, but we know the truth that lurks inside of us. It’s telling that these broken parts of ourselves, that bring us so much pain and rob us of so much life, are known as “skeletons in our cupboards”. As long as we pretend that we’re ok, as long as we hide our worst selves behind the façade of religious observance or pseudo-goodness, we remain broken and we find ourselves living a double life – saying, singing and praying one thing on Sunday and living a contradiction through the week. Such an existence is brings us neither healing nor true intimacy with God.

If we genuinely seek to live life to the full, and if we recognise that deep relationship with God is the key to this life, we cannot continue in this deception. Rather, we will find that we need to lay down our hypocrisy and become ruthlessly honest with ourselves, with others and with God. It is only when we are ready to face and deal with the truth about ourselves that we can embrace life in all its complexity and creativity and beauty and abundance. And this is why one of the most important – albeit difficult – disciplines in Christian worship is the practice of confession.

While in some churches confession has been formalised and ritualised, offering a safe and ongoing way to confront ourselves and the truth about our lives, it does not necessarily require this. In fact, each time we gather for worship we are (or should be) offered a chance to do this work. I have already written about how an encounter with God inevitably leads us to an honest encounter with ourselves. This is actually true of any genuine experience of intimacy, whether it’s with God or another human being. It is only as we allow others to get really close to us that they can reflect back to us the things in us that need to change – which may be why so many of us avoid intimacy at all costs. If however, we are courageous enough to take the risk of letting our true selves show – especially with God – we discover an amazing, healing, truth. We find that we are loved, appreciated and accepted – warts and all!

So, next time you are invited to spend time in confession try to resist the urge to run or to disengage until it’s over. Rather, seek to be honest with God about yourself – the good and the bad – and allow God’s grace to heal and change you. You’ll be so glad you did.
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John van de Laar is a Methodist minister, liturgical consultant and the author of the book Food for the Road – Life Lesson from the Lord’s Table. He holds a Master’s Degree in theology from UNISA, and is the founder of Sacredise.com, an international worship training and resourcing ministry. John is married to Debbie, and they have two sons.

Visit www.sacredise.com for more articles by John, as well as resources for personal and public worship – music, prayers, liturgies, images and drama scripts.

Perspective

Preaching is an interesting activity. I like to ask questions in my sermons, but I have seldom received an answer. At times, when I’ve really wanted people to talk back to me, I have had to push really hard before they give me some response. But, only once have I been interrupted.

I had been reflecting on how we view the world – whether we feel it is getting better or worse – and I asked people to think about our their own feelings. Suddenly an elderly man stood up and, looking around with eyes that were filled with grief and sadness, said, “I don’t think the world could get any worse…” Then he sat down.

For many people in our world today, there is no question that the world is terrible and that it’s only going to get worse. But, while we may deny it, this is not fact. It is simply perspective.

None of us is capable of seeing the world clearly. How we view our circumstances, our political and economic realities, our futures and our neighbours is all filtered through our upbringing, our religion, our language, our experiences, our culture and many other lenses. But, what we don’t always realise is that these perspectives impact how we live. If we feel that things are bad, we will tend to be pessimistic, fearful and suspicious of others, and we will act in ways that protect what we have and ourselves. But, if we feel that the world is a good place, we will tend to be much more positive, trusting and open. Whether we are optimists or pessimists, the world remains the same. It is only our perspective that is different. Which is why we so desperately need something bigger than ourselves to give us a better perspective on the world.

Every Sunday, as we gather for worship, we are engaged in the work of “perspective-shifting”. We may not even know we’re doing it, but as we sing and pray, as we read the Scriptures and listen to their meaning for us, our view of the world, of ourselves and of others is being subtly, but significantly, changed. As we encounter God, and as we are given again the vision of God’s reign that worship offers us, we begin to see things from the perspective of God’s purpose and God’s presence. We begin to think about things in the light of God’s grace, God’s justice, God’s compassion and God’s salvation. And this divine perspective changes our human perspective in remarkable ways.

One of the most important activities in worship that feeds this “perspective-shifting” is adoration. When we lift our eyes from our own limited view, and begin to focus on who God is and what God is doing among us, we cannot help but see everything differently. As we express our praise of God, we are reminded that there is another reality at work in our world. As we allow God to reveal God’s self to us, we discover that our resources and abilities are only a small fraction of all that God makes available to us, and we are reminded that, in the light of God’s glory and eternity, our sufferings and struggles are small and temporary (See 2 Corinthians 4:17).

We don’t offer praise in order to receive God’s strength and inspiration. We praise God simply because God is praiseworthy. But, in God’s grace, when we do this, we are changed. And the world begins to look very different when we realise that God really is at work in it – in ALL of it.
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John van de Laar is a Methodist minister, liturgical consultant and the author of the book Food for the Road – Life Lesson from the Lord’s Table. He holds a Master’s Degree in theology from UNISA, and is the founder of Sacredise.com, an international worship training and resourcing ministry. John is married to Debbie, and they have two sons.

Visit www.sacredise.com for more articles by John, as well as resources for personal and public worship – music, prayers, liturgies, images and drama scripts.