From “The Cross in our Context” by Douglas John Hall
Again, writing about humanity:
As Pascal put it, “(Humanity) is only a reed, the feeblest thing in nature; but (s/he) is a thinking reed.”
Gospel today, it seems to me must have something to do with the recovery of the high anthropology that is the presupposition of the cross of Jesus Christ. The Christian ethic…must surely accentuate human responsibility, under God, rather than the kind of moralism that feels constrained to warn humankind at every turn about the limitations and dangers of all its thoughts, words, and deeds.
It is very unfortunate that the Church is often seen as a bunch of moralists. As though that is what we are all about. We become moralists when we want to control the world around us and lack the faith in our God who makes us into responsible human beings who are gifted by the Holy Spirit to envision a life that springs forth from the promise God makes to us…to be our God!!! Yes, we must be ever aware of our capacity for evil…and less than good, but we are also capable of beauty and love and kindness and mercy that transforms life as we let go of our need to control and trust that God will do marvelous things through these “thinking reeds.” I find that we can be so anxious about what may come in our lives there is a great temptation to buy into any quick fix that may come our way and moralism frequently fits the bill but does not give us the life within God’s Reign….that is…always…a GIFT!
Connection: What is it that we hope to gain when we are tempted to trust in following some moralistic road rather than the Way of the cross of Jesus? It may be worth asking this when we see and hear the voices of moralism spring up in others and ourselves.
Lord, You lead us and you promise to make this day into another piece of the life within your glorious Reign. Empower us to be patient and trust in you alone as we walk through the events of this day. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment