there’ s nothing for us to grasp.
The rough edges give us a grip to hold.
We don’ t need to run from the edges, the imperfections, the unfiltered, as we’ ve done far too often in the religious world.
We all know that we have unresolved issues, shameful memories, and selfcontradictions residing in us, and those collective experiences can connect us. Our rough edges give others an ability to connect and hold on to us, and others’ rough edges allow us to connect with others. When someone’ s life is perceived as too perfect, we have no ability to connect.
Our humanity, with all its flaws and contradictions, can be the very thing that unites us. This isn’ t to say that the terrible atrocities of racism or abuse need to be dismissed as“ people just
being people.” Those sins need to be dealt with, and the church needs to repent of the way it has too often sided with the powerful victimizer over the victim.
But it doesn’ t have to end there.
The popular saying that the church is full of hypocrites isn’ t true. The church isn’ t full of hypocrites. There’ s always room for another. Because that’ s what we all are.
When we own up to the ways we have displayed our dust through the power of confession and honesty, we can see our shared need for grace.
When we acknowledge that the line between good and evil doesn’ t run between us and them but down the middle of us all, our shared need for redemption can bring us together and enable us to move into new phases of
50 • Solutions