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.
For more features from the life of our diocese, check Diocesanlife....ONLINE; and Bethlehem
News.
In Giving of Ourselves We Find the Joy
of Following Jesus
By Bishop Paul V. Marshall
Diocesan Life, September 1998
[Christians are invited to expect to meet their shortcomings
and misdeeds as an inescapable part of their Christian growth...
Show me a Christian who hasn't repented of anything lately and
I'll show you someone who isn't paying attention to God or their
neighbor.]
My favorite ex-Episcopalian, the late Thomas Merton, wrote a few
sentences of great comfort, encouragement, and challenge.
It seems to me the most absurd thing in the world to be upset
because I am weak and distracted and blind and constantly make
mistakes! What else do I expect! Does God love me any less because
I can't make myself a saint by my own power and in my own way?
He loves me more because I am so clumsy and helpless without Him
-- and underneath what I am He sees me as I will one day be by
His pure gift and that pleased Him -- and therefore it pleases
me and I attend to His great love which is my joy." (The Sign
of Jonas, p. 54)
We all know people who will fight, struggle, dissemble, or torture
words into impossible meanings - anything so as not to have to
admit that they are wrong. Merton's observations remind us, as
the bumper sticker, "God is not finished with me yet."
Christians are invited to expect to meet their shortcomings
and misdeeds as an inescapable part of their Christian growth.
It's never fun, but it is often a relief to recognize and grow
past a sin, especially a sin that has matured and darkened into
a bad habit. Show me a Christian who hasn't repented of anything
lately and I'll show you someone who isn't paying attention to
God or their neighbor.
There is something we need to grow past as a diocese. I learned
only last week that for the last 12 years -- and that's all that
I have seen records for -- Bethlehem has always been dead last
in Province III in per-capita stewardship. That's last of the 13
dioceses that make up the Third Province of the Episcopal Church.
The race has not even been close.
I confess that I was stunned. We are behind not only the wealthy
Mainline of Philadelphia and the Beltway around Washington, which
is perhaps understandable in some of our parishes; we are behind
West Virginia, with a significantly higher poverty rate and lower
overall earnings.
This is where Merton's observations come in. There is nothing
to be gained by being defensive about the facts; its in our best
interests to say yes, there is something in the culture of eastern
Pennsylvania that we need to grow past if we are to do the work
our parishes and our diocesan Convention have taken up. It is in
our best interests to admit that our commitment to disciples of
Jesus Christ and our management of our life's resources are often
in separate compartments of our minds. Let's not make a big thing
about it; let's change.
Merton's passage ends by saying that coming into the light of
God's love is an entrance into joy. To drop all the pretense and
double-talk and to begin to ask God what we are called to do with
our resources, our power, is to begin to see our lives in a new
way, full of new meaning, purpose and joy. We have allowed ourselves
as a culture, to believe that the joy of philanthropy is reserved
for those of the rich who feel called that way. After all the evasions
are swept away, the truth remains that the average human being
on this planet lives on less than one dollar a day, often much
less. Almost without exception, we are the rich of the
planet.
It is not for us to feel guilty about what we have; guilt has
a funny way of dissolving responsibility. For those who follow
Jesus, the work of preaching the gospel, caring for those in need,
and building up the sisters and brothers in the faith is where
they give themselves and, in so doing, find the joy of following
him.
Every one of us can grow more into that ideal. It won't feel right
simply to increase a pledge here and there, or simply to nudge
ahead of West Virginia or Washington in the stewardship stats.
It will feel more than merely right if we increase the extent to
which we live our lives in conscious partnership with God, attending
to his great love, which is -- or can be -- our joy.
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