When It Hits the Fan

I recently published an article for a magazine called the Brotherhood Beacon which is distributed to my denomination's conference. My blog was listed at the end of the article. So for those looking into my world for the first (or rather second) time, welcome. For the rest of you, I figured I should give some context.

While the article is about unity with Christ followers who believe sometimes very different things than we do, there are some items regarding alcohol and universalism that are talked about that will very likely be criticised (for the record I'm not a universalist, the item in the article was about a friend who had reached such conclusions when looking at scripture).

Now on to the post.

I have a feeling that things are going to hit the fan. I feel like I've come out of a closet of sorts (in a literary/public voice sense). I have exposed myself to the world I live in. Now I sit here waiting for the eye of the storm to move on and pound me with it's relentless fury. There really isn't much I can do about that now. Issues have been distributed, people have probably read the article, and I'm sure the scare crow version of me has probably taken a few intellectual baseball bats to the head.

I knew this sort of thing would happen. I seriously considered withdrawing the article before it was published, not because it wasn't true, but because I knew it would have repurcussions for people other than myself. To anyone who takes any sort of flaq for my writing, thank you thank you thank you. I'll by you coffee, or dinner, or as I now feel a little more free expressing since publishing the article, a beer if you'd like.

I don't have a sort of persecution complex, I really don't think I've done anything worthy of being persecuted. I'm just recognizing that my ideas might clash in big ways with the heartfelt convictions of others.

So why would I publish something that I know would make some upset, and make life difficult for others?

For that, you can blame Brennan Manning and book made movie The Help. If you haven't read anything by Manning, stop reading this or anything else. Don't even eat until you've finished Ragamuffin Gospel, Signature of Jesus, and All is Grace. Brennan has been a mentor to me. His honesty has healed me. His passion has inspired me. The alcoholic, divorced, rogue priest, now rendered an invalid because of his less noble addictions has pulled a veil off of my eyes that has allowed me to experience the unending love of God. I read All is Grace while writing the article for the Beacon. I gained a purpose as I realized that it is unlikely that Brennan will write any more books. I felt a sense of responsibility to take up the task to communicate the love that Brennan so honestly communicated to me. I suppose you could call that a 'call', but it feels more to me like being the first person to stumble upon a wreck. No one really asked me to do anything, but I would regret turning a blind eye.

The Help addressed the fears that come with a drive to be brutally honest. In case you haven't heard of or seen it, the basic plot line follows a white girl, daughter of a prominent family in the south, who wants to be a writer. She works with two Black maids who face possible death in order to publish stories about their employers and the conditions they are forced to endure. The movie carries a scent of White Man's Burden, but I found the courage of Abeline, one of the maids, inspiring. At the end of the movie, Abeline is fired, forced to leave behind the daughter of the white woman who she has raised. Her voice has cost her something precious to her, but she is more sure than ever of her purpose and the need to raise that voice as a writer.

I know my writing will sometimes anger people. It (and I don't mean my writing) will hit the fan now and then. People will disagree with, misunderstand, and probably even hate the things I have to say. But I hope what is clearly heard is that I'm not writing to be controversial, or divisive. I'm writing because there were people brave enough to say and write things that got them in trouble, things that set me free. I hope to do the same for others.