YOU ARE NOT PERFECT

 

                                                              YOU ARE NOT PERFECT

 

 

The big media just love to find some failure of a church person. They jump on this to show how the Church can be quite dishonest.

 

They have got the perspective wrong. Church must always be viewed as a pilgrim, sinful people working with the Holy Spirit to be redeemed of our weaknesses and sin. This is not a group of saints. It is sinful people working towards redemption.

 

The best way to understand church is like a group of people in recovery from their addiction to drugs and alcohol. They know their weaknesses. They are working for a healthy, clean life filled with meaning and friendship. If one member falls off the wagon, they understand. They walk with him on his journey back to sobriety.

 

In church we are all recovering sinners.

 

The gospel selection for this Sunday’s liturgy gives us the direct teaching of Jesus (Mt. 13, 24-43). The farmer plants good grain. An enemy came in and sowed weeds in this good planting. Both sets of seeds sprout. There are weeds! The wise farmer cautions not to uproot the weeds but to wait until the harvest. At harvest time the separation will be made.

 

Jesus taught us to live with the weeds!

 

Failure to live up to the values of the Gospel is part of the life of the Church. We journey together with the saints and the sinners.

 

There are so many members struggling with addictions. It may be your nephew, thirty-two years old and a successful business person, but he keeps going with his daily fix of drugs. He knows that his life is in a  mess, but somehow has not been able to escape the strangle  hold of the drugs. This addiction does not look good. There could be a tragedy in this life.

 

Your best friend in Church has had a falling out with her sister in Ottawa. The two women have not talked to each other in years. Their Mother does not say anything but you know that she cries many a night over the division of her family. You suffer because your friend suffers and her mother cries at night.

 

And then there is the relative who is always talking about making money. He is very aggressive and has taken advantage of other people in some business dealings. You hold your distance from him. He is not to be trusted!

 

This is not a perfect Christiaan life.

 

This is one of the hardest parts of Christian belief: to believe that God is working in this very sinful, selfish and at times downright miserable people! Can God actually be here?

 

This is where we need the correction of Jesus. The weeds will grow and suck the nutrients that the good grain needs but it is the job of God to make the separation at the harvest time. We have to believe that God is working in this sinful mess.  In  all the human failures that happen God will triumph.

 

In spite of all the sinful lives on the part of Christian people, God is the judge. God’s goodness will triumph over all evil!

 

 

 

 

 

IT IS HARD LIVING INA POST-TRUTH WORLD

 

How am I supposed to live when telling the truth is not a very strong held social value? If telling lies and untruths are acceptable, how can a society survive? How do I cope in a post-truth society?

 

We live in a time when some of the most powerful leaders can face the entire world (an all the TV cameras) and blatantly tell lies?  And what is even worst, millions of their citizens affirm that this man is telling the truth?

 

One of the huge news networks in the USA admitted to broadcasting untruths (they knew new items were untrue) in order to boost their ratings and the number of viewers they counted. Also, number of viewers  enhances their advertising incomes.

 

To label this as a post-truth society is to give up on the core value we have to live together as human beings: we aim to tell the truth to each other.

 

Consider your family life. If one member tells lies (after the second attept) you immediately distrust him. His word is worthless! All you can do is to try to protect yourself against any further lying. Nothing destroys relationship quicker than the person who tells lies.

 

What do you do if you cannot trust the news media to work hard to broadcast the truth and not embellish items with sensational tidbits of money, sex and nastiness?

 

Our Christianity is a way of life that works hard to tell the truth, even when it is very inconvenient and difficult. Think how hard your parents worked to teach you to always tell the truth and never to lie about the things you neglected to co. Your parents were such strong proponents of truth-telling. They lived this vital religious belief with fervour.

 

What to do?

 

Our Christian faith gives us strong motivation and courage to demand that everyone tell the truth. Demand that every politician, every writer, every company and all advertising be honest. We must sharpen our refusal to tolerate anyone who tells lies.

 

Insist that what you hear in the media (or on your devise) is the hard-won truth. Be intolerant of those who spout off messages that need to be challenged. Use more often the observation: “I don’t think that is true!”

 

Truth telling  is hard work. You will lose a few friends because you insisted that they speak the truth and not just hand on some juicy  tit-bit that did not happen.

 

Survival in a post-truth society demands that that we become hard-nosed and demanding that we are given the truth, no matter how inconvenient the truth may be.

 

I am so appreciative that our Christian religion is based on truth telling and demands of all its followers that they in turn be truth-tellers.

WHO IS TELLING THE STORY?

 

If you grow up in a family where your father only speaks about the faults and failings of one of his brothers, your understanding of this uncle will be very negative. In fact, that uncle may have cheated your father out of a serious financial transaction. Your father has turned very negative towards his brother. Without realizing it, you have absorbed this negativity towards this brother.

 

Story-telling is power and control. It is never neutral.

 

Whenever we hear anything about another person (especially if it is negative) we must ask: and what is the other side? There are always two people in this disagreement. Am I receiving the other side?

 

We live in a time when there is more distrust of the institutions of our society which carry the truth of our society and shape our relations within the society. There is growing distrust of all forms of government, the school system, the medical profession, the police, the social-services and family life.

 

At the same time, the big media give us an onslaught of failure and short-comings of the people who live and work in these institutions. Remember, media is a business and its purpose is to attract more viewers. It aims to present a good story that you will pay attention to whenever you flip on your device to watch. Good news does not sell; bad news brings in the views and hence, the advertising dollars.

 

The media is weaking the social bonds that holds our society together. We must be very critical if we are to be practicing honesty.

 

Whenever you hear anything negative about the police always fire back: Why are you not reporting on the police person who helped the new-comers to Canada find a place to live? Why have we not heard of the number of times the police have responded to a distress call of an elderly person, called the ambulance and got the distressed, elderly grandmother into the hospital?

Why do we not hear of the high school teacher who notices that one of their grade twelves is in distress, sits down to listen and opens a new door to a young adult planning to end their life? Why are we not hearing about the compassionate service our teachers are giving our high school students?

 

To survive in today’s culture we need to have a sharp, critical attitude to anything we hear through the media. There are two sides to every story. Why am I not hearing the positive contribution that so many of my fellow citizens are giving to the rest of Canada?

 

 

 

 

NOT VERY RELIGIOUS AT ALL

 

One of the most helpful insights I received over the years was from a theologian who specialized in studying the mothers and fathers (the founding figures) of Christianity and Buddhism. This was just at the first stages of serious study of world religions.

 

She pointed out that “in all religions only a very small group are actually very religious.”

 

This means that the vast majority of people will live a religious life that does not have too much depth. The folks live on  a religion to get us by.

 

But at the same time, you can say that most people miss a lot of their own lives. They got through the motions and get by.

 

Our Christian faith teaches us that the very Spirit of God is working in all of us humans. Some pay more attention but many just keep walking through the calendar days of life.

 

Human beings can be very self-centered , focusing only on their own family and their own survival. If you monitor their conversations, they are always talking about their own concerns. The needs of their neighbor very seldom surfaces.  They get very upset as the price of groceries goes up but never once reflect on the reality of food shortages within Canadian families on a low income.

 

This is why Pope Francis (in speaking to a world audience) laments the great evil of indifference. ‘It is not my issue.’ Why should I even be concerned? Indifference is the serious cop-out. Am I my brother’s keeper?

 

When we are aware that so many people will have a Christiaan label but a very weak Christian spirit, we can still keep up our commitment to live vibrant and spirit-filled lives. My neighbor may not care too much but I want to give my very best to the mystery of God’s love coming alive in us.

 

The members of my family may have drifted away from a daily life of prayer. They are good people and work hard but that spiritual force that prayer brings is not active in their lives.

They do not take off every seventh day to be dedicated to worship and thanksgiving to God. The Sunday has become ‘their’ day, not God’s day.

 

You have learnt to be cautious with so many people and not bring up issues of social justice. For example, you never bring us the issue of the very poor wages that are paid to the unnamed women in Vietnam and China who sew and construct all our clothing. Sometimes your relatives become hostile when you bring for the issue of justice and fair wages.

 

Religion is never a cubby-hole thing that we pick up when we are in need. God permeates all of life. God is always moving us to become more of a human being. God wants to enlarge and enhance our life.

 

Even if the majority of my family is only minimally concerned about the things of God, I pray that I give my very best to serving and living the spiritual life I have been given.