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.
We Walk Before We Run
I believe that human experience is cumulative, that
little honesties add up to honor, that little acts of faithfulness
add up to integrity.
Bishop Paul V. Marshall
Diocesan Life, February 2001
I recently had the experience of having someone I had come to
admire sit in my office and lie to me. I'm sure they thought they
were "handling" me, and doing so for a good cause. I gave them
what they wanted and got them out as soon as I could with almost
no discussion of their proposal. I just did not want to relate
to them any more that day. It hurts to be handled, especially when
people think you are too dumb to know what is going on.
For some people, my reaction is a symptom of my very ordinary
background, what many people still dismiss as "middle class morality." In
ancient Rome, what we call factual honesty was considered a "virtue
for tradesmen," not something patricians need worry about.
And so it goes. A radio host recently explained why her own Jewish
tradition's prohibition of blasphemy does not apply to her. The
males of royal families in Britain and America have made it clear
that for them there are no rules about marital fidelity. Even for
some Christian thinkers, ordinary morality is seen as something
perhaps needed to keep the masses in line, but not something for
the sophisticated person.
The opposite excuse is often made for people at the other end
of the economic scale: that they are too oppressed to be accountable.
In one grand patronizing gesture, they are relieved of moral responsibility
as well.
Even among the financially more comfortable, anyone who feels
them-selves to be a victim will excuse themselves from ordinary
standards of conduct. Well, I have more respect for the oppressed
than that, and recognize that they have the power to sin as much
as anyone else.
I believe that human experience is cumulative, that little honesties
add up to honor, that little acts of faithfulness add up to integrity.
We walk before we run. Each of us has weaknesses and challenges
in this regard; each of us knows moments when we lose the struggle
and do things that are self-serving or hurtful to others.
It is one thing to struggle, even to lose. It is quite another
to say there really are no rules for us.
The ability to deceive ourselves, to say that for us there are
no external standards, is the difference between mere sin and entrenched
evil. We sin all the time, and are sorry and try to live differently.
We are evil when we convince ourselves that the standards do not
apply to us. We then incorporate sin into the way we operate. We
have trouble dealing with great social issues because our individual
hearts are unconverted.
Most of us are pretty good at recognizing this decay of morality
in the culture and in our acquaintances. It does not take genius
to see hypocrisy or self-deceit in others. What is more difficult
to do is to get past our own system of defenses and look for the
lies we tell ourselves.
If you tell yourself that because you work hard all day you can
isolate yourself from your children or spouse (all of whom have,
indeed, had their own day!), you are living a pattern of self-deceit
and are being unfaithful.
If you have a busy lifestyle and think that excuses you from attending
church and encouraging your fellow Christians with your presence,
you are deceiving yourself. In both cases you hurt others; and
your own soul shrivels and contorts.
I say all of this, of course, because at the end of this month
Lent is upon us. It is a time when we deliberately shut down things
that distract or anesthetize us in order to take a good look inside.
It is a time to go to work on what we see when we look.
Lent is not a time for self-hate or depression, both of which
keep us from accomplishing anything. Lent is a time to recognize
our strength and apply it to the areas of our life which are not
reflective of Christ. Lent is not for wimps; it is commitment to
struggle. We will have a quiet day on this theme in Frackville,
on March 3.
The almost-total disappearance of the Ten Commandments from our
church services is a loss. Many people do not know the commandments.
A survey of the Church of England revealed that more than a third
of the clergy couldn't name them all.
I hope that during the forty days of Lent our parishes will use
the Penitential Order that is supplied for both Rite One and Rite
Two to help us remember the basic categories of faith and decency
that are responses to the God who brought us out of Egypt on eagles'
wings.
Christian morality, New Testament morality, is considerably more
than the Ten Commandments, but it is not less. You walk before
you run.
The function of moral teaching and self-examination is not to
make us feel better than others or give us a reason to condemn.
Its purpose is to check our self-honesty, our faithfulness in response
to God's love.
I suspect that none of the above is news. It is a reminder, however,
that Lent offers the opportunity to fight sin and develop virtue
so that the one person we never feel the need to lie to is our
self.
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