confession

People like to hide their faults. Secret sins are all too common. This prideful, protective reaction is natural. Who wants the world to know that we struggle with forbidden desires, particularly sexual ones? But Christians are called to be spiritual. Our churches should be hospitals for the hurting, places of healing and restoration. Light heals. A jaundiced baby needs to be exposed to intense bright light to become healthy. Sunshine feeds God’s green earth through photosynthesis. Secrecy is counterproductive.

Jonathan Safran Foer, a Jewish New Yorker in his twenties, collected memories of his family—photos, cards, false teeth, handfuls of dirt—all sealed in individual plastic bags and mounted on a wall. Eager to know more about his family roots after the death of his grandparents, Jonathan embarks on an elusive quest to Ukraine, specifically to explore what happened to them during World War II.