Two Big Fears

I seem to suffer from twin maladies.  Both can be paralyzing, and overcoming them is a struggle.  One fear is that I don't know enough about something to write about it credibly, effectively, and helpfully. The obvious remedy for this is to keep on learning a while longer before I write about it.  The other problem appears after I've spent enough time learning that I feel I have something to say.  When I do so, the subsequent fear is that I am now too uncurious and resistant to learning more on that topic.  Stuck in a rut.  Closed-minded.  Lacking a growth mindset.  Removed from reality.  Smug and over-confident.  

The most scary and vulnerable way of writing I know of is to document the learning process in writing.  This means asking the questions before you know the answers.  You express your unease before you've figured out whether it's justified or not.  You probably don't have any improvement to suggest for whatever you're questioning.  For all the world to see, you are revealing your ignorance and lack of insight by writing.

I know of nothing better than to keep learning and listening, but most of all, to stay tuned to the inner promptings of God's spirit within.  When I recognize that, I will be able to write as needed.    

For today, I will simply list some of the topics that for me currently fit into the "most scary and vulnerable way of writing" category.  While I have already made a stab at some of them previously, I hope to come back to some or all of them eventually.  In the meantime, if you have ideas or resources to share on any of these topics--or other topics that fit into this category for you, please feel free to do so, by whatever means seems good to you:  a face to face conversation, a phone call (620-567-2123)--leave a message if no answer, text (620-931-0815), a comment here, a Facebook message, or email (miriam@iwashige.com).  My favorite way to respond is by email, so if you contact me by another means, please leave me an email address where I can respond--unless that is problematic for you.  As I have time and opportunity, I may add to the list or insert links that seem relevant.  

1.  Deconstruction--used in the sense of re-examining matters of faith.

2.  Responsibility for "owning" the past sins of people groups of which we are a part.

3.  Institutions at critical inflection points--appropriate responses.

4.  Dealing with deep disappointment with or a sense of betrayal from those who were trusted friends or leaders in the past.  

5.  Handicaps or diagnoses of serious illness--vigorous efforts to correct the problems or willingness to embrace difficult realities without seeking recourse.

6.  Housing--traditional construction with its enormous debt load or alternative ways of building and funding.

7.  Health--benefiting from various branches of healing arts and sciences--built on the foundation of recognizing and utilizing the Lord's provision.

8.  Dealing with both abusers and victims redemptively and legally.

9.  Categorizations of personality or characteristics (such as the Enneagram):  useful for growth or excuses for bad choices or bad behavior?

10.  Scripture-informed (and accurately interpreted) gender roles.

11.  Ritual and spontaneity in church gatherings.  Related ideas: Tradition and innovation.

12.  Media:  How to know what to trust.  How to use it well personally.

13.  First things in the kingdom of God:  Maintaining strong faith communities or engaging in efforts at extension of it in far-flung locations. Strong personal faith is assumed in both contexts.  

14.  Ageing:  Being realistic about limitations without using them as excuses for bad behavior, laziness, or imposing guilt on others. How the church and/or the family should function in relation to the elderly.

15.  Being practical/being artful.  Both are good.  Can both be pursued to excess?  

16.  View of Scripture:  Honoring and understanding it.  Distinguishing rightly whether a literal interpretation and application are called for.  

17.  Education.  Making homeschooling work.  Correcting deficiencies in the classroom school model.  Pursuing higher education.  

18.  Being in the world but not of it.  Politics and science are two areas in which I especially feel the need for clarity on how this Christian imperative looks.  I'm familiar with a sense of homelessness.  

19.  Mental health.  How is it related to trauma, physical health, spiritual health, personal responsibility?  What remedies should be pursued when it is lacking?

20. Incompetence.  When it seems intractable in ourselves, what can be done? 

21.  Grief.  Relation to mental health.

22. Repentance.  Relation to mental health.

23.  Distressing circumstances.  Removing yourself from them or staying in hopes of making things better for everyone.

24.  Tenets of faith that can be construed to look ridiculous in light of commonly understood current values.