Diocesan
Life Columns
Bishop Paul V. Marshall
Bishop Paul's writes a monthly column for the Diocesan Newspaper, Diocesan
Life, edited by Communication
Minister, Bill Lewellis.
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Soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous...
What Shield Do the Joyous Need?
Bishop Paul V. Marshall
[Diocesan Life, March 1998]
I occasionally cringe from the Psalm verse, "The praise of God
is on their lips, in their hands is a two-edged sword. To wreak
vengeance..." Besides that, I have no patience at all for those
whose idea of God's "justice" assumes that the New Testament was
never written. For them, justice very often means the right to
despise those they currently disagree with, usually those whose
income they wish to redistribute.
So, in an article here a few months ago, I mentioned in passing
my belief that people are at their most dangerous when they believe
they are right. One reader of the electronic form of that article
put a strange construction on that observation and wrote me convoluted
poison email about my apparent desire that people not be right!
The question is how is one to be right and not dangerous. How to
be harmless as a dove?
My point was that when we have beliefs in place, lined up to our
satisfaction, there is a temptation to believe we have a special
license to despise, punish, or trample the feelings or thoughts
of those who have different points of view.
I leave it to mental health professionals to explain why this
is true. The fact remains: those who believe they have things completely
worked out do sometimes punish those whose views are a threat to
their system of belief.
One might mention the Inquisition, McCarthyism or the French Reign
of Terror as examples-in-chief. I can't explain its origin, this
Grand Inquisitor syndrome, but I do know we must guard against
it as we struggle to help the Episcopal Church reclaim its center.
When his views were being vindicated -- when the North was winning
the war -- Mr. Lincoln spoke of "malice towards none," and "charity
towards all." His death prevented those principles from being followed.
To this day our country suffers from what ill-named Reconstruction
did and failed to do in the South (and the North). And those seeking
the root cause of World War II need look no further than the Treaty
of Versailles.
I am grateful to have received the gift of a faith that is by
all normal standards orthodox. It did not come easily or quickly;
it does not explain everything. It's ups and down's of knowledge
can be weathered because it is primarily a relationship, not an
equation.
On the knowledge level, however, the joy of having a fairly coordinated
system of belief, the gratitude of recognizing the revelation of
God's will and word in the Word made flesh, must never grow in
smugness, "attitude," or arrogance, let alone the greater sins
of hostility and a desire to punish.
We are at our most dangerous when we think we are right because
we lower the shields of charity and patience that those who are
on a journey need to survive. We may forget the struggle of our
own path to faith. In some ways, complacency is the Christian's
worst enemy.
There is a God-given corrective to being too at ease in Zion.
St. Paul reminds us that "our knowledge is imperfect" and that
we "see through a glass darkly," now usually translated with "see
in a clouded mirror." We confess that the Bible reveals clearly "all
things necessary to salvation;" still, St. Paul reminds us that
we never have everything else figured out. That fact can help those
of us who gratefully consider ourselves orthodox to remember all
we do not know.
Perhaps doves are harmless because they are instinctively aware
of how thin and fragile their skulls are. With that humility in
place, we may have more charity toward those who have not been
able to see what we can see. This is by no means to say we ought
not vigorously witness to the revealed truth we cherish; it is
to say that we make that witness without cruelty towards others.
I know nobody whose opinion changed because of how thoroughly someone
else insulted, belittled or defamed them. Do you?
That all comes as explanation of what bids fair to be the strangest
line in the Prayer Book. In the service for the close of the day,
Compline, we pray: "Tend the sick, Lord Christ, give rest to the
weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted." That
all makes sense. Then comes the request that Christ "shield the
joyous."
It is at first hard to understand why one would pray for the joyous
along with all the afflicted folk around us. On reflection, it
is when one is sitting on top of the world that one is most precariously
balanced.
The joyous need God's protection because their defense are down.
Both in the high of its euphoric vision and the intensity of its
deepest experience, joy brings an uncomplicated simplicity and
incautious attitude.
On the good side, the joyous are likely to be the most loving
and most generous folk. On the dangerous side, the joyous are likely
to overlook the seriousness of the issues around them or spiritual
and physical dangers that may be ready to attack them. Like the
sick, dying, and other afflicted, their bodies and souls are at
risk.
How many of us know people who after one ostensibly joyous encounter
think it is nothing to abandon spouse and children, and simply
cannot understand why other people would object to their behavior?
When this image of fragility is applied to the world of ideas,
especially to people who happened to enjoy thinking, one can see
how the sins or arrogance and contempt are waiting to pounce. There
is an enormous difference between being a witness and being an
ideologue.
Being charitable when one is right, being thoughtful when one
is filled with joy -- these two virtues each ask us to remember
that each of us is vulnerable, each of us lives by grace and that
each of us is called to treat those around us accordingly. May
we remember the other prayer from Compline that reminds us that
our adversary stalks us like a roaring and hungry lion. Our souls
are at stake.
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