“Permission To Speak Freely” – Review and Giveaway

I recently read Permission To Speak Freely: Essays and Art on Fear, Confession, and Grace, by Anne Jackson. I started it one evening, thinking I’ll read a few chapters and then go to bed — that didn’t happen, I stayed up until I finished it. The good thing is, though it’s packed with good information, it can easily be read in a few hours. I’ve since found myself going back to reread and ponder over certain sections.

Anne has a popular blog called FlowerDust. On there, she asked, “What is the one thing you feel you can’t say in the church?”

Hundreds of people responded and a book idea was born. Some of the responses are in Permission To Speak Freely in the form of postcards, letters and artwork.

In the book, Anne talks about the fear too many of us have about sharing our past or current struggles in church. This fear comes from our own brokenness, along with an unauthentic atmosphere that exists in too many churches.

Some sections of the book are a memoir — Anne writes about different things that happened to her or that she did and how she handled the consequences of them. And how she continues to learn how to be real about what’s going on in her world.

If you’ve ever been annoyed or frustrated after reading a book, because you wondered how the author (and others) manage to live a ‘perfect’ life, you’ll enjoy Permission To Speak Freely. Because it won’t make you feel that way. Anne is honest about her good and her bad days. She’s real about needing meds for emotional struggles and that her doctor is still trying to diagnose what causes her imbalances. She’s real about her marriage and how her husband handled it when she wanted out of it one day.

Hope shines in the book because Anne writes about the freedom of sharing, confessing and processing our issues with a trusted person. And she shares about God’s love, grace and forgiveness for ourselves and others … no matter what’s going on in our life.

I asked Anne two questions and she graciously responded …

My question: Since the church can be a scary place to share our secrets in (hopefully your book will begin to change that) especially if we are just beginning to process our stuff, I assume we need to be wise about who to share our secrets with. Any tips on how to choose who is safe to tell and who isn’t?

Anne Jackson: Absolutely we need to be wise. Pray that God will give you clarity on who you should open up to, and I really believe he is faithful in that. He knew I needed to open up to someone about my past in order to continue to heal, and he provided that in my friend Kristi. In the same way, he knew my friend Crystal was desperately needing someone to share her struggles with and laid on my heart to open up to her. He’s working behind the scenes…we just need to pay attention and be bold.

My question: You write about the discrepancy between Jesus’ teachings and somethings you saw happening in churches and with pastors. Any advice on finding a good church?

Anne Jackson: Finding a home church is difficult. I’ve grown up in church. I know how it “works” and so it’s hard for me to not be critical or suspecting. I laid out a few things that were “musts:” A focus on the Bible and expository (not “this is how to fix your life” teaching but “this verse says this and this is what it meant and perhaps what it means today.”) teaching with sound doctrine, a place where the focus was worshipping God as a community so we could be prepared and thankful to go out and love on the world, a budget that didn’t mainly go to administrative costs and went more to the community and missional work, and a church that actively helped the homeless in our community and the poor in the world. And that is how I started going to my church. When I’m on the road, they recognize I’m gone and I get texts from people who notice and say they miss me. I was on staff at a church and didn’t attend there for about six months…nobody noticed. How community is expressed is vital (for me) in a body of believers.

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This book is so needed today, so I’m grateful to Anne for writing this book and for answering a few questions. I plan to purchase a few of these for gifts.

So in the spirit of this book, what is one thing that you don’t feel comfortable talking about in your church?

Leave a comment (with email address, if we don’t know each other and/or there’s no auto link) before Friday at noon and you’ll be entered to win a copy of Permission to Speak Freely.