Our Stories
A Healing Transparency
By Dan Dungan | posted 10/16/2008
"…confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." (James 5:16)
"Hi Don!"
How fortunate! I was on campus at Seattle Pacific University earlier this week and was heading toward Don's office hoping he might be there yet knowing the chances were slim. But here he was walking in that direction also and we quickly got caught up on our families until we arrived at the door with his name on it. Don and I had been in a small group together for a few years but hadn't seen each other much since I started working at other churches. Once in his little workspace we quickly got to the core of our beings. I never cease to wonder at how easy it is, once trust and love is built, that friends can meet after a separation of some time and just start up where we had last left off. We had learned the benefits that come from studying God's Word and sharing our souls over time and the freedom and healing that can bring. Our particular group had included an addicted felon who was trying to put his life right with Christ, a construction worker, and us. As we spent more time together we gradually started sharing real things and not just the surface topics. We grew to trust and depend on one another. We got to the point where we each developed questions of accountability that we gave the other three with freedom to ask us at any time and any place. Our wives encouraged us to keep meeting and a couple of wives had even helped us shape our individual questions. There is healing in being transparent and still accepted and loved.
I left Don's office within ten minutes but I knew he was praying for me and he knew I could now pray specifically for him and surely would. Our culture doesn't lend itself much to letting down our facades and showing our weaknesses. Men don't often do that anyway! I remember as I walked back across campus being thankful for my pastor when I was a young married guy. He got several of us in that category together to be a small discipleship group. We now live all over the United States but it was with them that I learned to trust someone other than my wife. Doris is my best friend and confidante. We have an agreement to not have any secrets except for when we give presents to one another and that has blessed me more than any other human experience. I can trust God more knowing that Doris knows me better than I do myself and she still manages to love me. To discover that I could have an open dialog with other folks as well has helped me nip things in the bud and to deal with the bigger issues in my life.
I also reflected upon the power of small groups as I neared my appointment there at Seattle Pacific. My home church emphasized small groups during "40 Days of Purpose" a few years ago and some of those groups are still meeting, even though the church went through a painful split and members of those groups were on different sides of the chasm.
There are some people who I won't divulge certain things about myself because they are not discreet or I don't think they care enough. But to have someone in my home and some in my church and life that I am close enough with to get past the official, the superficial, and the social and get to the transparent frees my spirit to heal and fly.
I was very happy to see that small groups are important at Creekside. That is a healthy sign in every sense of the word. I know God is a God of relationships and the closer I can be with others, the closer I can be with my Lord.
To respond to this message, email Dan at DanD@ecreekside.com.
