Overview
World renown sociologist, Dr. Brene Brown, says shame is one of the most lethal injections humans give to themselves. We carry shame in our bodies. We carry it in our minds. We carry it in our souls. We’re ashamed of our past. Our future is controlled by the shame we feel in the present. Money, habits, addictions, friendships, and forgiveness all carry elements of shame. It is one of the few things that seeps into almost every fabric of our lives . . . and we live almost oblivious to it.
Shame is lethal because it almost buries our awareness of our true selves. It replaces the core truth of our existence with the lie that we must reject who we are. This rejection leads to neurosis and eventually towards outer darkness. Shame is a spiral that we cannot easily climb out of . . . but we must.
Dr. Brown says the one antidote to shame is empathy. We have to open our souls to who we see in the mirror and those feelings we allow to wound us. To show empathy means we have to learn to forgive ourselves.
This Lent, join us as we climb out of the spiral of shame and step into the empathic light and see ourselves for who we really. The core truth of our existence is not that we “don’t” belong but that we very much do — despite our failures and shortcomings. Our core truth is that we are God’s Beloved. Shame can’t teach us this. Empathy can.
Can you think of anything else worthy of letting go of this Lenten season than that of shame?
February 17 | Ash Wednesday Homily
I’m convinced the leading cause of our individual sin has in some part . . . if not a large part . . . to do with shame.
February 21 | Mark 1:9-15 | Baptizing Shame
The act of baptism is one of renewal. We die to our old self and rise again in new life. It is past time our shame is baptized. But beware, just because we name it and let go of it, that does not stop it from trying to come back to tempt us. The arch of Jesus’ baptism to his testing in the wilderness is similar to our arch too. Shame creeps in to test us all the time. But if we can remember the core truth of our existence, we can learn to not let it take power over us.
February 28 | Mark 8:31-38 | Seeing Shame
The only time in scripture that Jesus calls someone Satan is right here, and he says it to Peter. Peter’s shame is what we need to see because it closely resembles ours. He didn’t want Jesus to die but rather conquer the world as it was on earth. He could not accept another way, and this was his shame. I’m not sure this is much different today.
March 7 | John 2:13-22 | Clearing Out Shame
Jesus overthrows the tables in Jerusalem’s Temple. He makes a whip of cords and drives the people and animals out too. There are a lot of things we keep stocked in our Temple, our body, soul, and mind that need to be cleared out. Jesus demonstrates in life what needs to also happen inside of each of us.
March 14 | John 3:14-21 | Can We Really Let Go of Shame?
In his shame, Nicodemus shows up to Jesus in the middle of the night wanting answers to questions he does not know how to ask. He is ashamed of the current trajectory of the Pharisees, but he can’t name it in the light. He’s burdened by shame. Jesus offers life-altering answers to his questions but the story does not say if Nicodemus heeds Jesus’ advice. The story just ends making me wonder, “Can we really let go of shame?”
March 21 | John 12:20-33 | Moving from Shame to Glory
John 12:28 is a passage we don’t often quote but we should: “Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came for heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” Here is the voice of God speaking to Jesus saying that a way has been made for us all to move our shame to glory. But the way is going to include death.