I think it was Bill Hybels who said character is who you are when no one is looking, or something like that.
Letter 43 of Seneca's Moral Epistles reminded me of this, and of the "ministerial fishbowl." It seems we shouldn't complain about this fishbowl effect, but expect transparency and accountability as fellow believers. This letter was so good, I quote it in (almost) full here:
"Do you ask how the news reached me, and who informed me, that you were entertaining this idea of which yo uhad said nothing to a single soul? It was that most knowing of perons, - gossip....
"Men are asking what you do, how you dine, and how you sleep, and they find out, too; hence there is all the more reason for your living circumspectly. Do not, however, deem yourself truly happy until you find that you can live before men's eyes, until your walls protect but do not hide you; although we are apt to believe that these walls surround us, not to enable us to live more safely, but that we may sin more secretly. I shall mention a fact by which yo umay weigh the worth of a man's character: you will scarcely find anyone who can live with his door wide open. It is our conscience, not our pride, that has put doorkeepers at our doors; we live in such a fashion that being suddenly disclosed to view is equivalent to being caught in the act. What profits it, however, to hide oursevles away, and to avoid the eyes and ears of men? A good conscience welcomes the crowd, but a bad conscience, even in solitude, is disturbed and troubled. If you r deeds are honourable, let everybody know them; if base, what matters it that no one knows them, as long as you yourself know them?... Farewell.'
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