Rejecting the Pull of the Group

Last week I mentioned how in Luke's Gospel Luke has John the Baptist calling the entire crowd a "brood of vipers"whereas in Matthew's Gospel Matthew has John calling only the Pharisees a "brood of vipers".

For Matthew, the Pharisees are the vipers.

For Luke, everyone is a viper.

We talked about how Luke grouped everyone into the category of a viper because for Luke's readers who were likely filled with resentment and bitterness towards their Mother Faith that threw them out of the Judaism ... Luke wants them to know that everyone needs a radical transformation of their heart and mind if they are going to truly evolve and grow into complete and whole followers of The Christ.

In essence, Luke is calling each member of the crowd to step out of the crowd.  "You are all vipers", he's saying, "you are all in need of radical change and growth, may each of you step out from the brood of vipers you are in and be different. - change your ways, change your words, change your actions, change your heart, change ... everything."

I'm thinking about this this morning.

In his book "Radical Transformation" Alexander John Shaia references this story and says that "one of the primary steps (in our own journey) is our obligation to step out from the crowd and speak and act truthfully and compassionately despite our fear."  He says that "our actions must flow from whole and integrated attitudes, not just from our intellect or our emotion" and that we must "act and speak from our fullest individual truth, using as much of our integrated self as we can muster, and not shrink back from speaking and acting because we are fearful ... it means that we will reject the pull of the group."

Ahhh.

Rejecting the pull of the group and letting my actions and words flow from my fullest and most personal individual truth, to not shrink back from speaking and acting because we are afraid.

Afraid of how others will respond.

Afraid of what others will say.

Afraid of what others will think.

Afraid of stepping out from the comfort of the group.

Dang.

This is hard thing, isn't it?

When I first started deconstructing I felt like I spoke from places of pain, places of trauma, and places of emotion and intellect.  I was learning a TON and was soaking it all up like a sponge and (at the same time) I was coming to realize how much Evangelicalism had wounded me as a child and how I had carried those wounds into my present day life.

I was hurt.

I was mad.

I was gaining knowledge.

And so (admittingly) I spoke from a combination of those places A LOT.

3-4 years later, though, and I've done some heart work.  I have a long, long, long way to go ... and I very often feel like I take 10 steps backwards for every 1 step forward.  

BUT.

I've begun to come to grips with the ways in which I was hurt, I've befriended the angry and hurt inner child who endured the things and teachings he endured as a child, I've tightened my grip on my own individual truth of inclusion and love, and I've poured all that I am into making a place where all sorts of outcasts feel loved and embraced and welcomed to be who they are.

I have friends and mentors and people in my life who are helping me become a more integrated and full human being who stands out from the crowd not because he's angry and hurt and full of new knowledge, but because he has a firm grip on his individual truth and has his eyes locked on giving to others what he was never given - a place to belong, a place to be themselves, a place to not have to worry or think about what others might think of their life, their decisions, their beliefs, their ideas, their choices, etc, etc, etc.  

Again, I can't state this enough - I have an incredibly long, long way to go ... BUT ... I'm much further along than I was 3, 4, 5 years ago, and for that I am forever grateful.

As we get our feet wet in 2022, these are some of the things I'm thinking about - becoming more aware of my individual truth and refusing to hold back from speaking that truth because I'm afraid, and learning to speak it from a place of wholeness and fullness as opposed to a place of emotion, and intellect.

Does any of this resonate with you?

Much love,

Glenn Siepert