About eight weeks before I had surgery to replace my right hip, my younger brother had the same surgery on the same hip. In a few months our other brother will have the same surgery on the same hip. A few months after that one of our sisters will go and do likewise: same hip. I don’t know if our other sister will need her right hip replaced but the odds are she will. It seems to be in our family DNA.
Traits, characteristics, abnormalities and even addictions are handed down from one generation to another because of our DNA and there is not much we can do about that, at least presently. The geneticists of the world are working even now to try to find ways to alter genes that predispose us to various maladies and even pre-mature death sentences. There are those who worry that science can go too far, that we are meddling into areas that we should not. There are also those who say science can’t go far enough.
That moral debate will continue even as we all either suffer or are blessed because of our genetic makeup – or both. We came out of the womb who we are, as we are: imperfect creatures, children of God, brothers and sisters one to another, each unique but also limited because of factors beyond our control. All that is simply a fact of life in this life and we have to live with it.
The problem with all this only arises when we decide to blame DNA, our genes, our heredity for our failures and shortcomings, our lack of success or whatever else we perceive to be a negative reflection on our character. “It’s not my fault that I am this way,” we protest. “My DNA is to blame and I had nothing to do with that.” At that is true even if it is, in the end, no excuse for those failures.
During this time of year when we are still remembering and celebrating Jesus’ birth among us, we would do well to be reminded that even Jesus’ DNA was less than perfect, even if he was and is God’s Son. If we check out Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus, we will discover some unsavory characters and even a few loose women who contributed to his DNA. As with every one of us, Jesus could have used his genetic make up and family back ground to be less than he was. He never did and he never was.
Would that we could say the same for ourselves. Whenever we find ourselves accused of doing that which we know we should not have done, even when that accusation is self-imposed, we immediately attempt to find an excuse for our behavior. The first one on the list always has something to do with forces beyond our control, such as our DNA. “What did you expect from me given my background?” we whine.
“More than what we got,” they say to us, God says to us and what we might even say to ourselves when we are honest with ourselves. It is always easy to find some excuse as to why we act the way we do, especially when we want to excuse those actions that bring condemnation from others and shame to ourselves. We know better. Perhaps, as we begin a new calendar year, we might want to make this year a time when we spend less time making excuses for ourselves and more time being the person we were created to be.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Experience Is the Key
If you are like me, you have strong opinions on a variety of subjects both secular and sacred. There are times when we voice those opinions loudly and clearly and there are times when we keep them to ourselves, discretion being the better part of valor. We have learned when to keep our mouths shut and our opinions to ourselves, but we do not always do so.
We are told that we should not get into arguments over religion or politics, both subjects for which we tend to have very strong opinions, but we do. We hardly ever win these arguments because we seldom convince the other that we are right and s/he is wrong because s/he is just as convinced as we about the correctness of the opinion being put forth and defended. Of course, given the strength of our convictions, we always seem to believe that we have won the argument and the other person, stubborn fool that he or she is, has lost.
In truth there is nothing wrong with debating the issues. Often that is how we learn even if it is begrudgingly. When we allow ourselves to be open to hearing what another thinks and why s/he thinks that way, we may not end up changing our minds; but at least we can understand both why there are those who disagree with us and why they do so. If it were so easy to convince people to vote Democratic, for instance, we’d all be Democrats.
In order to arrive at the truth, whatever the truth is, we have to be able to look at it from every angle. Because of innate and unrecognized (and often unadmitted) prejudices, it is often quite difficult for us to arrive at the truth. We see the truth from where we are standing and then end up standing convinced that we are right or in the right and those who disagree with us are wrong or in the wrong.
Flannery O’Conner once observed that “conviction without experience makes for harshness.” I would add that it also makes for judgment and persecution. Having been there and done that, wherever it is we have been and whatever it is we have done, always tends either to temper our opinions and convictions or make them stronger. When we know of what we speak, we are less prone to judge those who have not walked in our shoes and thus do not understand.
We have all been on both ends – judging harshly on the one hand and being the victim of another’s mean words and judgment and even persecution on the other and in either case not knowing what we or they were talking about because we both spoke from inexperience and a true lack of understanding. When we only see things from our viewpoint, we do not see the whole picture and that’s what gets us into trouble.
Experience is the key. Thus, given our inability or unwillingness to see and understand the other side, the truth seems to be that it is that only those who have walked the walk are those who can honestly talk the talk. The rest of us need to shut up and listen and learn and not be harsh, critical or judgmental. We ask that courtesy of others and others ask that of us.
We are told that we should not get into arguments over religion or politics, both subjects for which we tend to have very strong opinions, but we do. We hardly ever win these arguments because we seldom convince the other that we are right and s/he is wrong because s/he is just as convinced as we about the correctness of the opinion being put forth and defended. Of course, given the strength of our convictions, we always seem to believe that we have won the argument and the other person, stubborn fool that he or she is, has lost.
In truth there is nothing wrong with debating the issues. Often that is how we learn even if it is begrudgingly. When we allow ourselves to be open to hearing what another thinks and why s/he thinks that way, we may not end up changing our minds; but at least we can understand both why there are those who disagree with us and why they do so. If it were so easy to convince people to vote Democratic, for instance, we’d all be Democrats.
In order to arrive at the truth, whatever the truth is, we have to be able to look at it from every angle. Because of innate and unrecognized (and often unadmitted) prejudices, it is often quite difficult for us to arrive at the truth. We see the truth from where we are standing and then end up standing convinced that we are right or in the right and those who disagree with us are wrong or in the wrong.
Flannery O’Conner once observed that “conviction without experience makes for harshness.” I would add that it also makes for judgment and persecution. Having been there and done that, wherever it is we have been and whatever it is we have done, always tends either to temper our opinions and convictions or make them stronger. When we know of what we speak, we are less prone to judge those who have not walked in our shoes and thus do not understand.
We have all been on both ends – judging harshly on the one hand and being the victim of another’s mean words and judgment and even persecution on the other and in either case not knowing what we or they were talking about because we both spoke from inexperience and a true lack of understanding. When we only see things from our viewpoint, we do not see the whole picture and that’s what gets us into trouble.
Experience is the key. Thus, given our inability or unwillingness to see and understand the other side, the truth seems to be that it is that only those who have walked the walk are those who can honestly talk the talk. The rest of us need to shut up and listen and learn and not be harsh, critical or judgmental. We ask that courtesy of others and others ask that of us.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
The Season of Hope
If it is anything, Christmas is the season of hope; and isn’t that the way it should be? Those of us who are parents can remember holding our newborn in our arms and thinking and dreaming about what would be in store for this little tyke in the years to come. Our hearts and minds were filled with nothing but hope. We only wanted the best for the baby and silently promised we would do whatever would be needed to make those hopes and dreams come true.
Whether those hopes and dreams came true or whether we fulfilled our promise to do our best to help make them so is, in truth, water over the dam. We cannot go back in time and undo or redo what we should or should not have done. What is is what is. If we had more than one child, the second child benefited from the mistakes we make with the first. The more practiced a parent we were, the better parent we became.
Much in the same way, albeit it in a very different way, every year we become new parents of the Christ Child. On Christmas we hold that Child in our hands, hold our faith in that Child in our hands, and hope and pray that the coming year and years will be filled with what faith in that Child means.
Unlike our own children’s lives whose lives will be very much in their control and not ours, (even as much at times as we wish they could be – for their own good and our peace of mind), we are in control of this Child’s life as it has bearing on our own personal lives. We make and live out the decisions our faith in this Child presents to us day in and day out. Each day we are to ask ourselves if what we are saying and thinking and doing reflect what faith in this Child truly means.
As it is with our own children, so it is with the Christ Child: we don’t simply rejoice in the birth, literally or figuratively hold the C/child in our hands, hope and pray for the best, then put the C/child down and walk away. Rather, we stay intimately involved and stay involved for the long run – or at least that is what we are supposed to be doing. We cannot or should not be an absentee parent of our own children any more than we should be an absentee parent to the Christ Child.
We teach our children by our very lives, by the example of our lives. They learn both good and bad, love and hate, selflessness and selfishness from us, their parents. In the same way, we teach our faith in the Christ Child by the way we live our lives – or at least that is what we are supposed to be doing. How well we do it or how poorly is a reflection of what Christmas truly means to us.
As we gather to celebrate the birth of the Christ Child once again this Christmas, may we be filled with hope, hope that the coming year will be better than this past, hope that dreams that were dashed because of our own sinfulness or that of others or simply because of circumstances beyond our control be fulfilled this year, hope that we will do our best to model our lives on the life of that Child grown to full stature, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That is my hope for you and for me. Merry Christmas.
Whether those hopes and dreams came true or whether we fulfilled our promise to do our best to help make them so is, in truth, water over the dam. We cannot go back in time and undo or redo what we should or should not have done. What is is what is. If we had more than one child, the second child benefited from the mistakes we make with the first. The more practiced a parent we were, the better parent we became.
Much in the same way, albeit it in a very different way, every year we become new parents of the Christ Child. On Christmas we hold that Child in our hands, hold our faith in that Child in our hands, and hope and pray that the coming year and years will be filled with what faith in that Child means.
Unlike our own children’s lives whose lives will be very much in their control and not ours, (even as much at times as we wish they could be – for their own good and our peace of mind), we are in control of this Child’s life as it has bearing on our own personal lives. We make and live out the decisions our faith in this Child presents to us day in and day out. Each day we are to ask ourselves if what we are saying and thinking and doing reflect what faith in this Child truly means.
As it is with our own children, so it is with the Christ Child: we don’t simply rejoice in the birth, literally or figuratively hold the C/child in our hands, hope and pray for the best, then put the C/child down and walk away. Rather, we stay intimately involved and stay involved for the long run – or at least that is what we are supposed to be doing. We cannot or should not be an absentee parent of our own children any more than we should be an absentee parent to the Christ Child.
We teach our children by our very lives, by the example of our lives. They learn both good and bad, love and hate, selflessness and selfishness from us, their parents. In the same way, we teach our faith in the Christ Child by the way we live our lives – or at least that is what we are supposed to be doing. How well we do it or how poorly is a reflection of what Christmas truly means to us.
As we gather to celebrate the birth of the Christ Child once again this Christmas, may we be filled with hope, hope that the coming year will be better than this past, hope that dreams that were dashed because of our own sinfulness or that of others or simply because of circumstances beyond our control be fulfilled this year, hope that we will do our best to model our lives on the life of that Child grown to full stature, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That is my hope for you and for me. Merry Christmas.
Monday, December 15, 2008
COMING TOGETHER IN FAITH
That was the theme of the “Special Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church in the United States” as was printed on the covers of the various booklets that were dispersed during our gathering this past Saturday at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Mt. Lebanon. That long title was to insure those who gathered and those who were observers and anyone else who might be interested that any other entity that bills itself as the “Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh”, even if it has “Anglican” in parenthesis after its name, truly is not.
As only an observer, as I am and will remain canonically resident in the Diocese of Iowa even as I serve as Interim here at St. Brendan’s, this was a special day in the life of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. It was a day of joy, of hope, of peace, of fellowship. It was an occasion when those who gathered knew why they were there and why it was so important for them to be present. It was an Easter celebration in the midst of Advent, a day when new life was felt and was quite evident. It was good to be present and to celebrate with those who had reason to celebrate.
The theme of the Convention was not lost on anyone. There is much work to be done, much rebuilding and building to do and many, many miles to go before we are strong and standing on our feet again. But resurrection has begun. Jesus’ resurrection gave new life to that beleaguered band of followers who thought all was lost when he was arrested and crucified. Pentecost aided in their growing into the fullness of what they were to become, but it all took time and it all took faith.
And so it is for us. It is our faith in God, in Jesus, in the resurrection and even in ourselves that we are doing God’s work and God’s will and not our own, that brought everyone together last Saturday and it is that same faith that will keep us together and keep us going when the bumps in the road slow us down and try to trip us up. The same stones that were tossed at one another in the past have been laid down and will now, in the words of Father Jim Simons, the President of our Standing Committee, be used to build up our church and our Diocese.
We believe, we know, that some of those who threw those stones and are still holding on to them, will come to lay them down and join us in the rebuilding, the resurrecting of our Diocese. We know that others will lay theirs down as well but will continue on their separate ways. We pray for them even as we will miss their being part of us. There may still be some who will continue to throw stones. We forgive them.
Advent is a season of hope. There is much to hope for in the days and months and years to come. There is truly a future to hope in, a future that is and will be built upon by our faith and strengthened by our love one for another and for our Lord. It is a new day in the life of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh and the family of St. Brendan’s. There is life, new life, resurrected life, life of the Spirit in us and all around us. Having come together in faith may we be refreshed, renewed and reinvigorated so that we can celebrate this new life in joy, in anticipation and in hope.
As only an observer, as I am and will remain canonically resident in the Diocese of Iowa even as I serve as Interim here at St. Brendan’s, this was a special day in the life of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. It was a day of joy, of hope, of peace, of fellowship. It was an occasion when those who gathered knew why they were there and why it was so important for them to be present. It was an Easter celebration in the midst of Advent, a day when new life was felt and was quite evident. It was good to be present and to celebrate with those who had reason to celebrate.
The theme of the Convention was not lost on anyone. There is much work to be done, much rebuilding and building to do and many, many miles to go before we are strong and standing on our feet again. But resurrection has begun. Jesus’ resurrection gave new life to that beleaguered band of followers who thought all was lost when he was arrested and crucified. Pentecost aided in their growing into the fullness of what they were to become, but it all took time and it all took faith.
And so it is for us. It is our faith in God, in Jesus, in the resurrection and even in ourselves that we are doing God’s work and God’s will and not our own, that brought everyone together last Saturday and it is that same faith that will keep us together and keep us going when the bumps in the road slow us down and try to trip us up. The same stones that were tossed at one another in the past have been laid down and will now, in the words of Father Jim Simons, the President of our Standing Committee, be used to build up our church and our Diocese.
We believe, we know, that some of those who threw those stones and are still holding on to them, will come to lay them down and join us in the rebuilding, the resurrecting of our Diocese. We know that others will lay theirs down as well but will continue on their separate ways. We pray for them even as we will miss their being part of us. There may still be some who will continue to throw stones. We forgive them.
Advent is a season of hope. There is much to hope for in the days and months and years to come. There is truly a future to hope in, a future that is and will be built upon by our faith and strengthened by our love one for another and for our Lord. It is a new day in the life of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh and the family of St. Brendan’s. There is life, new life, resurrected life, life of the Spirit in us and all around us. Having come together in faith may we be refreshed, renewed and reinvigorated so that we can celebrate this new life in joy, in anticipation and in hope.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
BLESSINGS
The economy is not doing well. More and more people are out of work. Retirement funds have been hit hard. Giant corporations and banks have failed. We all wonder if things are going from bad to worse and perhaps are afraid they truly are but at the same time we are hoping and praying that somehow in some way they will turn around and get better, and the sooner the better.
In the midst of all this worrying and wondering, wishing and hoping and even praying, we are preparing to celebrate Christmas, the time of year when we not only are reminded of how truly blessed we are because of Jesus’ birth among us and for us but are thankful that we can share some of our personal blessings with others, both those we love and those unknown to us through our charitable giving.
The temptation, to be sure, in times like these is to hold back, to be less giving, to look out for Number One now more than ever. Some, perhaps many, will succumb to that temptation and who could blame them? These are indeed tough times. Yet it is also in times like these when our generosity is sorely tried that we must also examine just how blessed we are and what God expects from us who are so blessed – and what we should expect, nay demand, of ourselves.
Brian McLaren, who writes much on the Emerging Church, says this: “At the very least we should understand that God doesn’t bless some to the exclusion of others. So, being blessed isn’t simply a privilege: it’s a responsibility.” (Context, August 2008) Somehow we all know the truth of that statement even though our inner self rails against it given these difficult times. We are called in faith by our faith to share our blessings with those who are less blessed. It is indeed a duty and a responsibility.
Or, in the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “Possessions are not God’s blessing and goodness but the opportunities of service which God entrusts to us.” I would add, “not just God’s blessing and goodness,” because that is what they are. Thus, when we share our possessions with those who have little or none, those possessions which are God’s gifts to us, we serve others.
Our possessions are never permanent because they are not ours forever because we are not going to take them with us when we die. Others will take them over. Even more is the knowledge that there is no good reason why we have been so blessed with so much and others lack anything anyone would call a blessing. None of this, of course, makes it any easier to let go of some of those blessings, those possessions, especially because we have worked so hard to get what we have.
What we are called to do is to acknowledge just how blessed we are even in these very, very difficult economic times and then use those possessions, those blessings, well, as best we can. And we use them as such whenever we use them not simply to take care of our own needs and wants but, more importantly, at least as far as the One who blesses us is concerned, how we use them to help and serve the less blessed.
In the midst of all this worrying and wondering, wishing and hoping and even praying, we are preparing to celebrate Christmas, the time of year when we not only are reminded of how truly blessed we are because of Jesus’ birth among us and for us but are thankful that we can share some of our personal blessings with others, both those we love and those unknown to us through our charitable giving.
The temptation, to be sure, in times like these is to hold back, to be less giving, to look out for Number One now more than ever. Some, perhaps many, will succumb to that temptation and who could blame them? These are indeed tough times. Yet it is also in times like these when our generosity is sorely tried that we must also examine just how blessed we are and what God expects from us who are so blessed – and what we should expect, nay demand, of ourselves.
Brian McLaren, who writes much on the Emerging Church, says this: “At the very least we should understand that God doesn’t bless some to the exclusion of others. So, being blessed isn’t simply a privilege: it’s a responsibility.” (Context, August 2008) Somehow we all know the truth of that statement even though our inner self rails against it given these difficult times. We are called in faith by our faith to share our blessings with those who are less blessed. It is indeed a duty and a responsibility.
Or, in the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “Possessions are not God’s blessing and goodness but the opportunities of service which God entrusts to us.” I would add, “not just God’s blessing and goodness,” because that is what they are. Thus, when we share our possessions with those who have little or none, those possessions which are God’s gifts to us, we serve others.
Our possessions are never permanent because they are not ours forever because we are not going to take them with us when we die. Others will take them over. Even more is the knowledge that there is no good reason why we have been so blessed with so much and others lack anything anyone would call a blessing. None of this, of course, makes it any easier to let go of some of those blessings, those possessions, especially because we have worked so hard to get what we have.
What we are called to do is to acknowledge just how blessed we are even in these very, very difficult economic times and then use those possessions, those blessings, well, as best we can. And we use them as such whenever we use them not simply to take care of our own needs and wants but, more importantly, at least as far as the One who blesses us is concerned, how we use them to help and serve the less blessed.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Doomed to Fail
The Pittsburgh paper this morning has an article about the former Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh finally getting to be what he has always desired: the Primate and Presiding Bishop – of his own Church, of course. But at what cost and to how many trusting and innocent laity?
Problems, divisions, schisms in the church are almost always clergy led and they are always about power and always masquerading as theology. This one is no different. The problem here is that while Bishop Duncan may well have about 100,000 members, most of them are not on the same page. Some oppose the ordination of women, in fact, consider such a deed heretical, yet they find themselves in the same bed over the homosexual issue, no pun intended. I always thought those who considered themselves orthodox would have nothing to do with those they deemed heretics. I guess I will have to think again.
Of course this new venture by the Bishop and his followers is doomed to fail because it is rooted in negativity even though it claims to be about the positive and correct, in their way of thinking, interpretation of Scripture. What they have become instead and in fact is The Church Against. Against the ordination of women, against homosexuals, against anyone and everyone who will not allow them to be the sole interpreters of Scripture.
Years ago a thriving Anglo-Catholic Church in the Diocese of Spokane was led out of the Episcopal Church into the Antiochian Orthodox Church over the homosexual issue. The remnant who remained are still struggling to survive but they are and they are growing. Those who left are dying one by one. No baptisms, no confirmations, no converts. No one wants to join a church that advertises itself as “We are the church against.” Yes, they claim biblical orthodoxy but the sermons are negative and doomsdayish to the core. Not my kind of church or sermon.
Years before that, immediately after General Convention changed the Canons to allow the ordination of women and set the stage for the acceptance for the Book of Common Prayer 1979, five priests pulled out of the Episcopal Church, each forming his own Church. They were all against something that was done but no one of them was in agreement with every other one on all the issues. If any of their churches exist today or in any significant numbers, I would be shocked.
In the meantime, here in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, the remnant remains and it remains strong and vibrant and excited to continue on with growing the Church. We will meet in a re-organizing convention next Saturday to elect and put in place the required canonical pieces. I expect an upbeat and joy-filled gathering and Eucharist that will be enhanced by an ordination.
On Tuesday I attended my first clergy gathering where to a person everyone was upbeat and hopeful and where they all said that for the first time in a long time they felt safe. They knew they would not be attacked by fellow clergy because of their theology and practice. Bishop Jones from Virginia, who is our pastoral consultant and whose Diocese has seen the defection of not a few parishes, remarked that their recent convention was upbeat and joyful for the first time in a long time. When negativity disappears, the positive is possible, but not until then. When negativity reigns, the process is doomed to fail.
Just a fair and friendly reminder to the newly-minted Primate.
Problems, divisions, schisms in the church are almost always clergy led and they are always about power and always masquerading as theology. This one is no different. The problem here is that while Bishop Duncan may well have about 100,000 members, most of them are not on the same page. Some oppose the ordination of women, in fact, consider such a deed heretical, yet they find themselves in the same bed over the homosexual issue, no pun intended. I always thought those who considered themselves orthodox would have nothing to do with those they deemed heretics. I guess I will have to think again.
Of course this new venture by the Bishop and his followers is doomed to fail because it is rooted in negativity even though it claims to be about the positive and correct, in their way of thinking, interpretation of Scripture. What they have become instead and in fact is The Church Against. Against the ordination of women, against homosexuals, against anyone and everyone who will not allow them to be the sole interpreters of Scripture.
Years ago a thriving Anglo-Catholic Church in the Diocese of Spokane was led out of the Episcopal Church into the Antiochian Orthodox Church over the homosexual issue. The remnant who remained are still struggling to survive but they are and they are growing. Those who left are dying one by one. No baptisms, no confirmations, no converts. No one wants to join a church that advertises itself as “We are the church against.” Yes, they claim biblical orthodoxy but the sermons are negative and doomsdayish to the core. Not my kind of church or sermon.
Years before that, immediately after General Convention changed the Canons to allow the ordination of women and set the stage for the acceptance for the Book of Common Prayer 1979, five priests pulled out of the Episcopal Church, each forming his own Church. They were all against something that was done but no one of them was in agreement with every other one on all the issues. If any of their churches exist today or in any significant numbers, I would be shocked.
In the meantime, here in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, the remnant remains and it remains strong and vibrant and excited to continue on with growing the Church. We will meet in a re-organizing convention next Saturday to elect and put in place the required canonical pieces. I expect an upbeat and joy-filled gathering and Eucharist that will be enhanced by an ordination.
On Tuesday I attended my first clergy gathering where to a person everyone was upbeat and hopeful and where they all said that for the first time in a long time they felt safe. They knew they would not be attacked by fellow clergy because of their theology and practice. Bishop Jones from Virginia, who is our pastoral consultant and whose Diocese has seen the defection of not a few parishes, remarked that their recent convention was upbeat and joyful for the first time in a long time. When negativity disappears, the positive is possible, but not until then. When negativity reigns, the process is doomed to fail.
Just a fair and friendly reminder to the newly-minted Primate.
DRINKING THE KOOL-AID
A recent article (11/20) by Brian Britt in the online newsletter Sightings dealt with the murder-suicide of over nine hundred members of Jim Jones's People's Temple, on November 18, 1978, in Jonestown. Most of us who remember that event remember thinking that those who drank the poison-laden Kool-Aid were simply fanatical followers of Jim Jones and were, simply, crazy. Had we been there, we would never have succumbed to his mesmerizing preaching and never, ever drunk the Kool-Aid.
Probably so. Nothing has changed in the thirty years since. We who were remember that event and those who only know of it either from some class on religious history or religious behavior or because of its anniversary still consider Jones’ followers to have been something less than totally sane. Yet similar occurrences have taken place in the years since, the suicide bombers in Iraq as an example. People from almost Day One have given up their lives in the name of some kind of religion.
Moreover, lest we Christians become too smug in our condemnation of such behavior, we must remember that part of our DNA as followers of Jesus Christ is the willingness to lay down our lives because of what we believe. The early martyrs who willingly walked into the arena with the lions instead of denying their faith were considered to be complete fools by those who delighted in the bloody massacre they were about to observe. Kool-Aid comes in many varieties.
St. Paul reminded his disciples – and you and me as well – that to be a follower of Jesus is foolish in the eyes of the world. “Fools for Christ’s sake” he called himself and all Christians. As far as worldly values are concerned, it is indeed foolish to walk the extra mile with someone we think may never get it no matter how many miles we walk with him. It is crazy to turn the other cheek when you know it will be slapped as well. It is insane to willingly pick up a cross and carry it while everyone with any sense runs as fast as s/he can in the opposite direction.
Yet that is what we are to do and be about as Christians. We do what the world thinks is utterly insane because it is not self-serving but selfless. Perhaps the reason why those who drank the Kool-Aid were looked upon as foolish is that so many of us, especially so many of us who called ourselves Christians, hardly ever did anything anyone would consider foolish. Not only did we not walk the extra mile, we didn’t walk the first one; not only did we not turn the other cheek, we were the one who struck first; not only did we not pick up our cross, we became a cross to others.
It is easy to condemn, or at least judge, those whose actions seem foolish, especially those who are acting the way they believe their faith is calling them to act. It is not so easy to examine our own actions only to discover that we often avoid doing that which our faith in Jesus calls us to do. Before we condemn those who drink or drank the Kool-Aid, we might ask ourselves when was the last time we had taken a drink. When was the last time someone accused us for being foolish because we were doing what our faith demanded?
Probably so. Nothing has changed in the thirty years since. We who were remember that event and those who only know of it either from some class on religious history or religious behavior or because of its anniversary still consider Jones’ followers to have been something less than totally sane. Yet similar occurrences have taken place in the years since, the suicide bombers in Iraq as an example. People from almost Day One have given up their lives in the name of some kind of religion.
Moreover, lest we Christians become too smug in our condemnation of such behavior, we must remember that part of our DNA as followers of Jesus Christ is the willingness to lay down our lives because of what we believe. The early martyrs who willingly walked into the arena with the lions instead of denying their faith were considered to be complete fools by those who delighted in the bloody massacre they were about to observe. Kool-Aid comes in many varieties.
St. Paul reminded his disciples – and you and me as well – that to be a follower of Jesus is foolish in the eyes of the world. “Fools for Christ’s sake” he called himself and all Christians. As far as worldly values are concerned, it is indeed foolish to walk the extra mile with someone we think may never get it no matter how many miles we walk with him. It is crazy to turn the other cheek when you know it will be slapped as well. It is insane to willingly pick up a cross and carry it while everyone with any sense runs as fast as s/he can in the opposite direction.
Yet that is what we are to do and be about as Christians. We do what the world thinks is utterly insane because it is not self-serving but selfless. Perhaps the reason why those who drank the Kool-Aid were looked upon as foolish is that so many of us, especially so many of us who called ourselves Christians, hardly ever did anything anyone would consider foolish. Not only did we not walk the extra mile, we didn’t walk the first one; not only did we not turn the other cheek, we were the one who struck first; not only did we not pick up our cross, we became a cross to others.
It is easy to condemn, or at least judge, those whose actions seem foolish, especially those who are acting the way they believe their faith is calling them to act. It is not so easy to examine our own actions only to discover that we often avoid doing that which our faith in Jesus calls us to do. Before we condemn those who drink or drank the Kool-Aid, we might ask ourselves when was the last time we had taken a drink. When was the last time someone accused us for being foolish because we were doing what our faith demanded?
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