I trust that
is a long enough segue to introduce the subject of farting, and the lessons I
have learned. I do not mean the lessons I’ve learned about farting (that would
be flat-out ridiculous), but the lessons I’ve learned because of farting.
It all goes
back to a small group camping trip outside of Tofino, British Columbia. There
were eleven of us ranging in age from preschool through to retirement. The
weather that week was primarily of the foggy-overcast seaside variety, which
meant spending a fair bit of time huddled around a little propane-campfire in a
shelter the locals ended up naming “Tarp City”.
Our proximity
to one another confronted us with the inevitable: someone farted. Suddenly a
whole network of coping mechanisms kicked in. Some tried to ignore what they
heard, while others giggled in spite of attempts to the contrary. None of us
realized what lessons we were about to learn, but, since we had a hearty menu
of camp cuisine lined up for the week, lessons were sure to follow!
Of course, I do
not have a detailed recollection of how things went from there, but it came
down to this: we realized that we all felt that there was some level of shame
associated with our experience with farting. None of us knew how much of this
was because we were good religious people who believed such things were simply
improper (Jesus didn’t fart, did he?), how much was associated with our polite
Canadian culture, and how much was an expression of an inner fear-based shame
mindset that came from who knows where. However, we all agreed that farting,
responses to farting, and discussions about farting, were permeated with some
kind of feelings of embarrassment wafting out of some kind of mindset of shame.
Over the
course of the week of camping, we discovered that we were able to talk about
things to do with shame, guilt and fear (the three things that followed sin
into the Garden of Eden). At the same time, we were able to consider how God
was working to set us free from this crippling triad, as well as building the
loving, humble, compassionate relationships that would withstand such things.
In a sense,
farting was a test. There were far more shameful things inside us than farts.
If we saw that someone’s indiscreet fart received outright disapproval, open
ridicule, or even embarrassed silence, how would we trust each other to share
our soul-farts, so to speak?
What we found
was that, honesty about a basic bodily function that everyone does,[4]
prepared the way for us to be honest about other things as well. We never did
focus on something that still may never be our favorite thing to talk about,
but on what it felt like for people to know something of what we are like and
still accept us.
Some years
before this camping trip, my wife and I attended a Pastors and Wives Retreat
where one of the pastors had tried to break the ice by asking people how their
families dealt with farting as they were growing up. When I first heard him
announce this, I felt a sense of encouragement that such a group of people
would lead the way in showing it was okay to talk about something like this.
The next night I was hugely disappointed to hear the same pastor apologizing
for offending some of our peers who thought it was inappropriate to talk
publicly about such embarrassing things.
The message to
me was that, even among the couples who were leading dozens of churches around
our province, it was not safe to fart. It was not safe to talk about farting.
It was not safe to be known as one who farted. It was not safe, period.
Seeing the
freedom that came during our camping trip some years later affirmed the negative
and the positive of the lesson. When people see normal issues of life treated
as shameful, they will also hide the things that are even more shameful than
that. When people see that the normal issues of life are treated as normal,
without suppressing or exaggerating them out of their place, they start to feel
safe that the “abnormal” issues of their hearts may be just as well received.
I do not think
there is any way to set a policy on how much or little churches should talk
about things like burps and farts. After almost a decade of working with
children, I can see how they need to be taught both good manners, and that
there is nothing shameful about how their bodies work. After years of working
with adults in the area of long-standing childhood wounds, I am certain that
most adults I have met have not been given good mentoring in a God-honoring
worldview of how our body, soul and spirit work together, and how Jesus heals
his family of the soul-wounds that have been with us for a long time.
As our bodies
were clearly designed to express our souls into the material realm, we can also
learn from our bodies that such natural things as farting invite our souls to
express our heartaches to one another in soul-to-soul relationships.
At least, in
my personal experience, the people who have learned to trust each other to be
safe with their farts are the ones who are learning to trust each other with
their hearts. A gathering of such people may sometimes get smelly, but the
growing love relationships make it worth the discomfort as we enjoy the feeling
of being with a spiritual family that accepts us and loves us along every level
of our growing up to maturity in Christ.
Now, in case
someone would like to see if the Bible encourages us to think along these
lines, here is what the apostle Paul wrote: “Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the
glory of God.”[5] I know that Christ has welcomed me, burps, farts, and all, so we
must do the same with one another. The more we talk about it, the easier it
gets.
From my heart,
Monte
© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
[1]
Joshua 9
[2]
II Samuel 11; Acts 13:22
[3]
Matthew 16:23; Mark 8:33
[4]
Yes, even Jesus farted. He created the human body. Every human body functions
the same way. He came in a human body in every way as ourselves. Every body
creates the gas that escapes as farts, or flatulence. Even after death, the
human body is known to release a last expulsion of internal gasses. There is
nothing shameful about any of this.
[5]
Roman 15:7
The use of "permeated" and "wafting" in this did not go unnoticed! That is a really great story. It's amazing how God can use anything to bring freedom, even a fart.
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