Wednesday quote

The encounter between self and community can be a healing one. It allows 'long-silenced voices to tell for themselves stories that question and counter those that dominate and oppress'. It also flags up the responsibility of the community to live and act in such a way that 'thickens' rather than denies the new story of the 'sinless' or chronically shamed person that is beginning to emerge from the narrative of atonement. For as we begin to 'confess' and 'repent' by re-storying ourselves, the community becomes a witness to the emerging self. there is a ready-made 'audience' that not only verifies the existence of the new narrative but that also, significantly, adds life and richness to the storied-self by linking their own stories to it. To make the 'Other' significant in this way is important, for, at its birth, our new storied-self has the 'Other' written into the centre of the plot.Atonement for a "Sinless" Society, p. 176