Be Real. No Don't.

"Be real."

"Be authentic."

"Share your heart."

These are all pieces of advice people give to emerging Christian leaders. What they don't tell you, is that you should only do these things if being real and authentic are happy things. We don't want to hear about the hard stuff. That just doesn't fit with the myth of the "happy Christian life".

Have you noticed that there are very few laments in popular Christian worship music? They just don't exist. Yet there are many psalms of lament. There's even an entire collection in the Scriptures called Lamentations.

We ask, "how are you?" But we don't really want to know.

When the Church is really being the Church something changes. The community of believers becomes a safe place to be messy. It becomes a place where we really do want to know. We want to know what's hard.

I've said often, "We are what we celebrate." I agree wholeheartedly with that. As I continue to grow as a pastor I'm learning that this statement is just as true, "We are what we lament."

Jesus was a man acquainted with sorrow and grief. He was also a man acquainted with joy and celebration. This is the beauty of following a crucified and risen savior. The pain and the joy are both valid.

While some would have us hold back our lamentations, Jesus embraces us in them as much as he embraces us in our joys.

For the follower of Christ, we really are to be real and authentic. We really are to share our hearts with one another. This community, this body of Christ, is a place where we are embraced in lament and joy.

While some say, "Be real. Umm...No don't." We need to say, "Be real. Good and bad. Joy and sorrow. For we love you, all of you."