We are building a W.A.L.L. with AUTHENTICITY

​This week we will prayerfully consider the 3 words of our goal: Justice, Mercy, and Humility (faithfulness), and the 4 words I introduced as a posture for achieving those: Welcome, Authenticity, Laughter, Love (building the WALL).
 
Tuesday
 
The word of the day is Authenticity.
 
Scripture: Psalm 51, 
John 8: 31-36,
Eph 4: 25-32

Thought: What do you think of this opinion,

​“Millennials tend to be idealistic. They have great stores of energy and hope. They want to believe that every person’s apparent character represents who they truly are (their authentic self) and that the culture within organizations will encourage and enable this authenticity”?
 
The article from which this quote comes talks about constructed authenticity and existential authenticity. Social expectations and experiences allow us to construct our selves and express our selves (yes, this is not a typo but an intentional use of separating ourselves into two words). Constructed Authenticity is the congruence and consistency between the virtual world and the incarnate world or our online self and the self we show our friends and colleagues when we're with them.
 
Existential Authenticity is presence of norms, values and rules that can restrict or enhance the ability of a person in that context  to be who they are. In other words how do groups like a church, a company, a neighborhood association, a sports team, etc. allow a person to be themselves and value that truth as worthy to the institution.
 
These are not new concepts. The Hebrew Scriptures define many ways that the people were expected to behave and to express themselves if they called themselves children of God. That expectation carries forward into the church of the New Testament as well.
 
Yet, underneath all of this is the call to liberation from expectations of perfection. The good news is the call to repentance, the call to declare your vulnerabilities, to admit failure, to even confess feelings of powerlessness. It is also the freedom to show your intelligence and creativity. Sometimes the hardest thing I do is speak in front of a church as a smart person with new ideas simply because I am afraid of being teased as I was when I was young, "bookworm, smarty pants, nerd." It is sometimes easier to admit failure because in some ways I am expected to fail (at least in my own head).
 
With the freedom we find in Christ, we find truth and with that truth we find freedom to be ourselves--fully known and blessed and loved. 
 
May we learn from well from the gifts of the millennial generation who would teach us well about authenticity.
 
Prayer: To the One Truth who sets us free to be, may we this day find a place to take a chance. Help me reveal my true face, my brilliance or my vulnerability. Help me be. And in my being my I know that you are God and I am your beloved child. Amen.
 
Peace, 
Rev Bev
 
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/nov/9/millennials-prefer-authenticity/
 
 
Rev. Beverly F. Ostrowski
Contract Pastor
Rock Spring Presbyterian Church
1824 Piedmont Avenue NE
Atlanta, GA 30324
 
www.rspc.org
404.875.7483