Posted on: 11th March 2021

I was finding it hard to get started this week, so I googled ‘How to write a blog.’ Suggestions included:  

Introduce yourself: Hi, I’m Catherine. 

Relay something interesting:  LCCT’s first home was an old button factory. 

Show off your expertise: I have knitted two jumpers for my daughter’s whippet.  

Be intriguing and share a secret: 

I’m not a fan of secrets. Without secrets there could be no blackmail, no ongoing child abuse or domestic violence. Secrets work hand in hand with shame and they isolate us from those who could help us. When we confide a secret to someone, we give them a certain amount of power over us, unless of course, we are sharing our secrets publicly, in a blog post for example, in which case they are no longer secret.  

Public exposure of secrets can be incredibly threatening to the establishment, and whistle blowers invariably receive more condemnation themselves than the deeds they expose.  

On Sunday we will be reading from John’s gospel (3:14-21), where we learn that goodness, truth and light go together, just as evil, secrecy and darkness go together. In other words, if you’re not comfortable with your family and friends knowing what you are doing, you probably shouldn’t be doing it.  

Last Sunday we read about Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple (John 2:13-25). People had become so used to the corruption and injustice that resulted from putting trade in the place of God, they no longer felt the shame of it. This is darkness masquerading as light, where shameful things are celebrated, and Gospel truth is hidden.  

So here is my secret: Sometimes (often) I choose the convenience of darkness over the discomfort of Truth.  

James 5:16. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.  

Written by Catherine Beaumont