In his new book, The Soulwork of Justice, Wes Granberg-Michaelson writes about his early encounter with the temptations of power: The world of social activism nurtures grandiosity. If you are part of that culture, even in smaller, local settings away from Washigton, DC, you’ve probably witnessed this. Inward, private truths get shaded by public personalities. Wounds are repressed. Leaders are prone to creating an artificial self that is curated and promoted on social media. We’ve all seen this in politics, activism, and in the church as well.
What Wes found at Church of the Saviour was an invitation to the inward journey, to journaling and silent retreat. In an early journal entry, he names his fear: “What is at the depths of my being? I fear there is little. Distracted by the demands of work each day, my life revolves around only the responsibilities of such external activity.”
As I read this, I found myself thinking about Lazarus and the rich man.* Both Lazarus and the rich man are starving for real connection. Neither can see the value of the other. In the parable, they do not bridge that abyss even after death. But in The Soulwork of Justice, we can follow one man’s path toward wholeness. Since 1969, Wes has been faithful to the disciplines of journaling and retreat as a “holding space” to bridge the gap between outer acclaim and inner poverty. Looking back through his journals, he identifies four critical movements that we must traverse:
- From self-sufficiency to belonging;
- From certainty to connection;
- From grandiosity to authenticity;
- From control to trust.
