Customer Reviews

Permission to Speak Freely: Essays and Art on Fear, Confession, and Grace

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*****
This new book by author Anne Jackson should be read by every Christian who is concerned about being real, and who is concerned about the church--even if, especially if you've been wounded by and/or alienated by the church. The subtitle of this book is "Essays and Art on Fear, Confession, and Grace"--the book revolves around the fear that we all have, the blessing that confession (speaking the truth) can be, and the grace that God offers us, especially in relationship with others.

But this is not a typical Christian self-help book, which I think is its strength. It is an amalgamation of art, stories (including many from the author's own life), poetry, and more. Reading it delivers an experience of feeling that can be rare sometimes in the Christian world--the feeling that we can be real, we can be who we are, we can say how we really and truly feel (yes, all of it) and it is okay, even good. It sort of gives you permission to feel. To be. To receive love from God and from others. This is hard to describe in a review. Most of all this book delivers a wonderful experience, like taking a bath in God's love and grace.

The book reminds me in some ways of the PostSecret books by Frank Warren, and the art is similar in that it is confessional and real. But this book is Christian, and it includes lots of text (unlike the PostSecret books) in the form of short chapters, poetry, confessional autobiography, and lessons the author has learned--the latter is my favorite part of the book. I found it slightly disorganized (not a bad thing in this case) and profound. I loved it!

I have recently recommitted my life to Christ and returned to the church and found this to be a healing balm for my soul. In my return, I'd been concerned about losing the authenticity I've gained in my life away from the church, and was not sure how to be a Christian and still be loving instead of legalistic and judgmental (as I'd been in the past when I attended church). This book helped me greatly.

The ideal reader for this book is the Christian who feels broken or tired or muzzled or hyper-conforming or hidden or numb or frustrated or lonely or isolated. If you feel this way, this is the book for you. It is based on Scripture, but not filled with references; it is not a theology book. It is also not for people who want to be told what to do (as in "Six Ways to Feel Better Fast", for example). It does include occasional adult themes and language, but in an appropriate manner with the purpose of the book--I did not find anything in this book offensive.

Highly, highly recommended.
*****

In 2009 Anne Jackson a popular blogger released her first book, Mad Church Disease: Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic, with the intent of providing a how-to-guide to help church leaders, pastors and volunteers from becoming burnout with church work. Although I loved the book and wrote a rave review I felt as though Anne's desire was not to provide a how-to-guide but rather to tell her story of burnout. Somewhat successful her book sold well but struck a nerve with older church leaders who felt her thirty years of life was not enough experience to speak to the subject of burnout.

What I feel Anne wanted to share but failed to communicate in Mad Church Disease is beautifully portrayed and profoundly written in her sophomore release, Permission to Speak Freely: Essays and Art on Fear, Confession and Grace. The book is built on the premise of one question written on her blog in 2008: "What is the one thing you feel you can't say in the church?" Instead of copying the likes of the Post Secret community, Anne dives deep into her own personal story and exposes the hurt, burnout and pain she suffered through years of love/hate relationship between her, the church and church people.

Motivated by honesty and humility this book is ripe with grace, forgiveness and truth. PTSF is fantastic read for anyone who has been hurt by the church or church people, it is an excellent reminder that confession of sin has the power to transform and the gift of forgiveness empowers us to move on. Each of us has our own story, while reading PTSF one can not help but identify with Anne's story in one way or another.

"And so I began to wonder. Can a book actually change the world? My gut feeling? No. Book's can't. But people can." (pg. 183 PTSF) I believe in her book Mad Church Disease Anne's heart was to help people change, she wrote a book with steps to do that, honestly I don't think it helped as much as she had hoped. A few years and experiences later, Anne has come to place where five steps to avoiding burnout give way to the power of the human story. All of us want to learn how to change and be better, but somewhere along the way we skip steps and forget the principles. However, when someone stands up in the dark corners of the world where our deepest hurts, habits and hang-ups lurk and says "I have been there," those are the people we are drawn too, those are the people that give us permission to say what is hidden deep in our souls. Anne Jackson doesn't need to give you permission to speak freely, but when you finish reading her book, you will definitely find yourself in a place where confession gives way to transformation.

Anne simply asks the question, "what is the one thing you feel you can't say in the church?" From page one the book enters into her story and her pain and experience with the church. In the midst of a very explicit and relatable story comes poems, pictures, and confessions of the people who answered this very question.

Anne forces and enables the conversation of why the church is a place that people feel they need to hide who they are. Why do we hide our secrets from a place that we feel should be "safe?" Why do we feel MOST JUDGED in a place where we believe judgement is in the hands of the Maker?

This book was VERY INTERESTING and provoked a lot more thought into the very topic of WHO the church is. From page one to the end I could NOT put the book down. My copy can no longer be sold on amazon with the word "new" next to it. It is very much "OLD," "UNDERLINED," "USED!" My hand was cramped more from all the underlining I did than holding the book itself! Anne allowed the biblical teachings of the church to shine through in the midst of the journey she took her readers on through the right of sanctuary the Christian church adopted in the 4th century to the abolishment of it in the 18th century. She brought church and church history forward in a way that was appealing and inspirational.

I HIGHLY recommend this book to future readers who especially feel that the role of the church is based on religion and law. If this is you PLEASE read this book, and challenge yourself to be open-minded with the message!

This book hurts. Because it is messy.

Anne Jackson has a one of a kind boldness to publicly confess her deepest and darkest secrets. To show that she is broken. And to show that she is healing.

This book is a gem. One that I want all of my friends to read.

I read the first half of the book in one sitting. Heartbroken, I closed the book to ponder what I read. I left the book closed for a few days. Re-opened and read one chapter (#14, Sanctuary).

In it, she states,
"Churches have been sacrificing the beauty of confession and brokenness for religious trappings and the malady of perfectionism."

Wow. I had to sit the book down again and wonder about this for a day.

This is a short book. I suppose it could be read in one sitting. But for me, I wouldn't be able to digest the massively important ideas she presents in one sitting. It took breaks. It took chewing.

Usually, with a book like this, the author will use a powerful real life example at the end to prove their final point. What did Anne pick to display confession and the power of healing? She chose To Write Love On Her Arms. And believe me. It drove the point home.

Lastly, the art and images she picked to separate the parts of her book are wonderful confessions. They're messy, just like the rest of the book. But expect to be moved by some.

Thank you Anne for being honest.

I would like to thank Thomas Nelson for giving me a copy of this book.

Aside from being a beautiful book--one that would grace any coffee table well--Permission to Speak Freely is also a thought provoking book--one that could spur on conversation among friends, and spur us on to think about how we interact within the Body of Christ. Anne wrote this as a result of seeing damage that stems from silence about our common human condition--that of brokenness--within our churches. This is not a book that begs you to judge those who haven't "let" you speak, nor is it a how to book. Rather, she discusses the inner factors that keep us from sharing our true selves: fear, past rejection, etc; as well as external factors. She also shares her personal growth in the area of confessing sin, spiritual transformation, and experiencing community. To change the ethos so that Christians in the church can speak freely and find the grace we long for, Anne reminds the reader that change begins with ourselves first (p. 64) and is found in the Cross (p. 100). I believe this is one book (of many) that address this generation's realization that true community and righteousness are not found in hiding and pretending, and I would recommend it to anyone journeying through these topics.
[...]

This book started out as a question on a blog: "What is the one thing you feel you can't say in the church?" It came together after hundreds of e-mails, letters, and messages to the author about things people felt they couldn't say out loud because of fear of rejection or judgment. The author was curious as to why people felt this way and wanted to see what if people confessed the shame they keep hidden. She shares her life in a very honest and human way that I have yet to read before now. She tells about her brokenness and how confessing the things she kept hidden have helped others and how we can do the same.

The book is not only about things we feel we can't say in the church itself but also about things we feel are taboo to talk about in general. Sure the concepts of adultery, porn, abuse, etc are discussed in sermons, books, and conversations but do people really get down to the nitty gritty, dirty, part of the issues? Do the "saints" of the church really talk about the flaws of their life or do they just put on a mask and portray the image of "everything is fine". We should speak out! When we confess our shame to others and talk out those situations, not only do we heal our own brokenness but we help others in the process. Maybe the person we confess to is struggling with the exact same thing or it could be something completely different but equally shameful that they need to get off their chest.

The overall flow of this book was wonderful. I started in the introduction and didn't even realize I had transisted over to the book itself until I was at the final chapter. The book is sprinkled with poetry, lyrics, stories, and beautiful art that go right with the flow. This is not your typical self help book. It's a book that puts out the raw information and makes you really think about your life and how you share it with others around you.

I don't know if I can really convey the heart and soul of this book so check it out for yourself. It's a quick book to read, took me just a few hours over a couple of days.

We all have them. Those moments when everything which keeps us going sort of fades into the background and we stand face-to-face with our own darkness, with the hollow places in us, with the gaps of disappointments and hurts and rejections and all the things which make us feel empty. An aching dissatisfaction. What can I do to just be happy? We ask ourselves, as we close our eyes against the memories which haunt us or the unmet desires which taunt us...

Some days, I am more thankful for God's mercy than others. Most days, if I'm honest, I simply breeze passed it without giving it any notice at all. Today, I stop, look at it, breathe it in deep, and am thankful.

I just read a wonderful book by Anne Jackson called "Permission to Speak Freely: Essays and Art on Fear, Confession, and Grace" and all the while I took in her story of becoming real, of learning to live vulnerably like His heart, I was thinking of my own. It happened at college in England, those 3 years surrounded by people from every nation in the world all coming together to live in one big old mansion and learn to love Him and one another while maneuvering the stress of attaining a degree (Goodness, I love Redcliffe College). Anne wrote of brokenness; of being real people needy of Him, with flesh and blood hearts which wound and break, caught up in the flood of this world of sin. She wrote of the common thread we all share as people: our neediness of Him, and how we try to fill it without Him in so many ways and how we ache and feel alone and hopeless, and how the only way out of these pits is through reaching out to one another, sharing our brokenness and sin, and giving one another His grace--acting as His hands and feet, living out His heart of mercy, carrying one another until it's our turn to be carried...

I am convinced that God broke that destructive cycle of sin caused by terrible self-esteem in my life through my honest confessions and His touch of grace through people who showed me love in those times. People who gave me permission to speak freely. I trembled in fear of how I would be received (and still find it does not come most naturally, when the desire to self-protect is so strong!), and yet experienced again and again the bolstering embrace of love and grace and compassion, and admissions of "I've been there, in my own way," a reminder that we are not alone. That humanity hurts. And that we are only called to meet one another where we are at, and hold out His hope, His grace, His love, until that person can begin to breathe it in for themselves and stand up straight again. The next time, you might be the one needing them to wrap their grace-saved arms around you...

I believe in being real. I believe that being authentic about the hollow places is the only way we can allow Him to fill them. And that He uses the hands and feet of His church to do it, Christ's body here on earth. Like the writer of this excellent book, having known my own brokenness I feel passionate about being the kind of hands and feet Christ would have making up His body. We often feel so alone when alone is the last thing we ever really are. Let's endeavor to make that tangible to each other. Let's be bold enough to lay ourselves bare, and let's effect a change toward authenticity about our own humanity and neediness of Him in His Church by giving one another `the gift of going second'. May we live to show one another the face of God. May we sow His mercy, grace, and love, and may we reap His healing, His holiness, for this entire broken body we are a part of.
Everything is at stake.
And He is endless Hope...

for every person in church leadership! This book tackled one of my pet peeves so when I 'happened' across it, I had to purchase it. I was extremely thankful I did. There are too many things that unfortunately are untouchable subjects in church which is where we should find our most safety and authenticity. The author handles the subject so gracefully and without judgement, especially considering her own struggle with accepting the church environment and church leadership's judgements of her. I applaud her and recommend this book to everyone, the message is vital both in and outside church doors. Her explanation of the borrowed concept of 'the gift of going second' will stay with me always and I have applied it many times.

I also loved that she included pictures of contributors' actual notes and artwork. It helped give the book a feel of inclusiveness and conversation, AND by including them, really illustrated her message of allowing others to speak freely and not being judgemental of them when they have the courage to. Everyone needs a place they feel safe to share who they really are. Thanks to Anne for expressing this message so well and giving her readers "Permission".

"Permission to speak freely" is the second book I have read from Anne Jackson, the other was "Mad Church Disease." I really enjoy Anne's writing styles, her personal stories, and the way she illustrates pictures through her words. This book takes on a more personal note about sin, and how Christians are the first to point the finger and outcast those who have sinned rather then show them the Grace that God showed each of us.

Anne shares her personal experience with abuse in and out of the church, her own sexual addictions to pornography and how hard it was to overcome it especially because the fact that she is a woman, and women don't have problems with porn? Throughout her book there are notes, images, and poetry that describe peoples hidden secrets. The chance to confess was given to people through this book. I was pretty shocked to see the comments in this book, but somehow a part shared a similar story with these notes.

The book also explains the point of confession, grace, and freedom. For the individuals who have sin there needs to come a point of confession to accept God's grace which leads to having total freedom over the situation.

I enjoyed how Julie Gumm explained her review:

"Part Confessional, Part Art, Part Challenge."

Shame. The constant enemy of humankind's desire to be known. Despite the unquenchable desire to share our lives with those around us, all too often we hide behind self-erected walls, afraid to reveal anything our culture tells us is shameful.

But, as Anne Jackson discovered, shame does not stifle the desire to speak honestly, to share with one another. It merely drives it underground. In May 2008, she asked her blog's readers the following question: "What is one thing you feel you can't say in the church?" Hundreds of responses later, Jackson decided to pen Permission to Speak Freely, an honest, raw, and emotional plea for followers of Christ to create a confessional community, a community without shame.

"[W]hy, of all the places on earth, do we fear revealing our secrets in the church?"

Throughout the book, Jackson opens up her life to the world. About her sexual assault at the hands of a youth pastor. Her struggle with pornography. With drugs. The shame she felt when she began to talk openly about these issues, and the church she worked for told her not to. Refreshingly, Jackson's confessions are not designed as part of a sales pitch about how Jesus came into her life and solved all her problems. Rather, she shares simply so that others know they aren't alone. By going first, she creates a space where others can follow; sharing their own struggles.

Interspersed throughout the book, Jackson shares the anonymous messages she received in response to her blog post. Piercingly honest, these messages alone are worth the price of the book. For example:

"We've had times when we couldn't go to church for more than a year because of sickness. And though I loved those churches, it bothers me that only once has anyone from any of them ever called to say 'What's happening? We missed you. How are you?'"

"I'm not sure I believe in Hell."

"Every time I treat a child who has a terminal illness, I become more certain that there is NO "Master Plan."

Permission to Speak Freely is well-worth the read. Even better, consider it the gift of going second. Now that Anne Jackson has shared, the rest of us can too.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.