Often we discover more about ourselves in the wake of an event than what we think we learn about another person. Two things come to mind. First, conservative reactions to President Obama’s remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast. Second, . . . 

. . . certain reactions to the movie American Sniper.

Human experience obtains many more such events on a more mundane level than coverage by the Press Corps and a story told by a famous Actor/Director. Often these smaller events go unnoticed unless of course we become introspective while we grapple with larger events.

Quickly we draw conclusions about the Messianic Secret, so described as Jesus tells those liberated from oppression to not say a word. Or, in the case of the man with an unclean spirit in the Gospel of Mark, where Jesus tells the man to be quiet. The lesser events contain more of the same. Jesus would not let the demons speak about him because they knew who he was. Or did they.

What if Christians, and churches, learn more about themselves, discover their own secrets, every time they become self-aware of their responses to others/Others? Is it possible that what is getting done in Mark 1 could also find itself getting done in 2015 in Christianity and the Church?

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