I imagine a small boy with a pillowcase pinned to his shoulders like a Superman cape, standing on his bed so he can see himself in the bureau mirror. The Superman cape is our culture’s most common fashion statement. It’s an intoxicating costume. For one thing, the Superman cape works like an invisibility cloak in reverse. Put it on and you can’t see your own faults. Instead, you see everyone else’s with lightning clarity and presume the authority to judge them.

What’s more, Superman-Cape-Attitude has no natural enemies. If opposition arises – and self made heroes secretly hope it will – it just proves that the hero threatens the powers that be. An episode of opposition gives you a delicious opportunity to display your valor. Self-criticism or awareness of one’s flaws is impossible because external criticism reinforces the conviction that you are right.

Being a brave defender of unpopular causes is a whole lot easier, now that most recognizable causes are fabulously popular. ~ Frederica Matthewes-Green, ‘Stories of Emergence’

Am I a self-made hero who tries to defend unpopular causes? I need to be wary of such dangers, especially as I immerse myself in the emerging church dialogue. It’s easy to criticize the institutional church and rigid forms of Christianity while being unaware of my own flaws as a Christian.