I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Psalm 23:6)
There is a difference between staying in someone else’s house and living in your own house. I don’t care how hospital your host is, you just can’t feel fully at home as long as you are living in someone else’s house. But when you are at home, in your own home, there are certain liberties that you take for granted, and the freedom to fart is chief among them.
Now we all know that we all have to fart sometimes. Everybody does; its natural. These gases are created when bacteria in your stomach grabs a hold of enzymes that your stomach lining either lacks the cell receptors to bind, or just couldn’t bind quickly enough. However it works, we all get gas. But we don’t feel comfortable releasing it just anywhere, and definitely not in front of just anyone.
The people that you feel absolutely comfortable releasing your gas in front of, those are the members of your family. And the more intimate you are with those members of your family, the more fun you can have with it.
In a real sense, family = freedom to fart. And if the local church is to be the family of God, we must work hard to cultivate this freedom within its culture. People need to feel free to fart at church!
Now, of course, I’m using farting as a metaphor for transparency. In the best of our churches people still don’t feel free to share their stanky stuff with other members of the body. We call the church the family of God, but because there’s no freedom to fart there, what we experience is markedly less than family.
My wife and I have brought interns into our house for 9-month periods for the past couple of years, and we have always wanted them to feel at home. But I know that they are not going to feel at home unless I make them feel at home. So whenever we bring a new one into our home, I intentionally begin to fart freely in front of them. Its my way of saying, “Welcome to the family.”
Maybe if you begin by sharing openly with another member of your church, you might start a fart revolution there. You never know, the church might begin to feel more like a family because of your bold, assertive, and unashamed public flatulence. Just a thought.
Share your thoughts:
I’m always shocked to discover that there is no freedom to fart even in some families? Are you free to fart in your home? Who are you most comfortable farting in front of?
