The interviews we filmed at Isaiah House last month will soon be ready to share. As one of the cameramen commented to me, it’s about 10 to 1 the amount of time it takes to edit versus film something. For every hour of filming, plan 10 hours of editing. Last night, I was up late with one of the filmmakers doing the final editing of a 30-minute DVD featuring the stories of a dozen women who were anxious to tell them on camera.
This man had some of the latest video editing technology in his home studio, and it was amazing to see the capabilities we have of cutting, splicing and marrying sections together without it being obvious what you have done. It helps you render something concise and to the point for the viewer, but also something that is not the whole story of a person. In a way, it’s twice edited. First, you have the part of the story that person wants to tell, and then you have the part of that we want to have them telling in the video. Hopefully, if we’ve done our job right, what you see in the end is a glimpse of the real person, not a caricature of our creation.
This experience has pointed out to me how much we edit ourselves. We are calculated in what we want the “viewer” (in this case, whomever we are talking to) to see. And because we want our story to come out good in the end, and we are afraid of being judged by others, we often leave out the parts that would make our story ring the truest and give others the most hope. In other words, the most important parts of our stories – those parts which are the most useful to God – often are the parts we keep on splicing out, like anger, loneliness, bitterness and hurt.
The real story of God’s love for the world is imbedded in our real story of His present tense, ongoing love for us, and you don’t want to over-edit that piece. The truth about ourselves is what will give hope to others with similar issues, because we are all human – we are all sinners – and we have much in common.
This is, in essence, what we are learning out of the new covenant passage we are studying weekly, stated most clearly in the verses we will look into tonight: “Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (2 Corinthians 4:1-2).
“Commending ourselves” is telling our story; “things hidden because of shame,” are the parts we want to leave out; and “walking in craftiness” is our tendency to not tell the whole story. Christians, of all people should have nothing to hide, and yet we seem the most given of anyone to edit our lives.
You have to splice DVD’s get the desired result, but try not to splice your life. The freedom of the new covenant is that God can and wants to use it all.
John Fischer The Catch 
Not only is it that “God can and wants to use it all”, but if we leave parts out in order to hide our shame, fear, hurt, or simply to prevent what we think are bad judgements against us; then we block God from fully acting in our lives not just prevent Him from being able to reach others through us.
Oh my gosh!!!! That is so, so true. I think how often I feel guilty or embarrassed about the parts of me I want to remain hidden from view. I get so mad at myself – yet I HAVE seen where God actually has used the struggles to help me be more understanding, more receptive, more “in tune”, I guess, to others who feel this “shame” or sense of never being “enough”. (At least I hope I’m being that way) So…maybe I have a choice to make? Do I keep on beating myself up, or do I choose to accept that God can and will work anyway…according to HIS way of bringing people together – the sharing of our brokenness?
Is there any room for personal privacy in “confessing our sins one to another”? If, in honesty, one has confessed his sins to God, and embraced the Saviour, His work on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead, does this not authenticate himself as a true believer….. especially as evidenced by the assurance the Holy Spirit gives in the heart? There seems to be an inordinate amount of self present in all these discussions of “unveiling” ourselves. It begins, in my observation, to take on a bit of morbid curiousity with each others sinfulness. I wonder if this over-curiosity is similar to what takes place in thousands of catholic confessionals around the world where a guilt-ridden individual tells all to the “priest”, and comes out of the little dark room “feeling” cleansed for a few deceptive moments because he has misplaced his faith in the “power” of a man to forgive sins against a Holy God! This over-conciousness of others sins fires up the imaginations of the listeners as they ponder it. This is especially true in the minds of men, of which I am one. And I wonder if the result of this over-emphasis in others sins can also bring about consequences ….. like what roman priests have, and probably are, imposing upon those who trust them. I conclude with this statement… it is enough to confess your sins to Almighty God…. and to admit to our brothers and sisters in Christ that “I too am a sinner saved by God’s Grace”. Much more than this begins encroaching into the questionable benefits of psychology. Ralph Gaily
John – just by being human we hide things from each other – I do not think this has anything to do with what faith you believe in. And yep Ralph, we as humans do seem to take on a morbid curiosity with others sins… look how interested we are in knowing the facts about people who do things that are in trouble, or who killed others, etc… For me this is the human condition. We can only strive to be better people, and knowledge is the key..
Kath…. we’ll never make it by “striving to be better people”. Christ’s death on the cross shows that. What He did for us there was what we need…. something only He can provide. …,r
I certainly respect that that is your belief, and I’m happy for you.. As a seeker, and I have read and looked at a lot of different belief systems, I have found that almost ALL belief systems believe in being the best you can, kindness, love, and forgiveness.. They also believe in a Creator, or God, or Higher Power. That is what I have found. Again, I am always happy for persons who have found their faith.. One of the reasons I keep coming back to The Catch, is because of all the different opinions. I like to think that if we keep an open society, we have even more we can learn from others of different beliefs. Thanks for your reply. Wish you enough.
The Gospel According to St. John….. for all honest seekers of the Truth. …,r