good stuff

I am stealing this - I read it awhile ago, but its hitting me today for some reason...I think because I've been thinking about how personal experience affects how we do ministry....

here's some bits and pieces from Dan Hasletine, Jars of Clay
Your Whole Self
"There is a weight to the Gospel. There is a mass connected to the story of redemption. It is in the dark-places - the addiction to pornography, alcohol, drugs, power and control. It is in our propensity to blame and abuse each other, our greed, and our depravity. It is the substance of these things that gives us a place to speak about the slow road to recovery.
When we find the gospel to be true and start to wrestle with the implications, it eventually brings us to a place where we must confront our humanity and know ourselves as both the walking wounded and the perpetually healed...
Because we have chosen to speak only about the victory from these things, we are left to promote a Gospel that is feeble and moveable at best, rather than one made of stone-one strong enough to withstand the weight of the world and the depravity that is balanced upon its surface. Our gospel is unbelievable because it's only half of a gospel. It is the resurrection without any signs of the crucifixion. I believe there are profound reasons why Jesus still carried the scars from the nails on His hands when He appeared to His friends. He was bringing the entire Gospel to his disciples...
Within the language of recovery is a phrase, a challenge, a mandate: "Bring the full weight of who you are into your relationships." It means that we are free to bring all of who we are - every part of our story- into our decision-making process. It can be part of the ways we talk, act and love others. It gives people the chance to know us, and it gives people the permission to be known. All individuals have things in their lives that make them unique. Most often this part of their story is connected to abuse, addiction, fear or pain. I have come to believe that the things that make us unique are the ways joy enters into our secrets, the ways light exposes our darkness. This is why we choose not to open these parts of our story up to others. Ultimately, it is our redemption that looks unique-it is the way healing comes, how long it takes, who is involved that makes us different."