Tuesday 29 July 2008

Looking at our warring ways, it is always good to look at all sides...from Merton.

I do not mean to encourage the guilt-ridden thinking that is always too glad to be "wrong" in everything. This too is an evasion of responsibility, because every form of oversimplification tends to make decisions ultimately meaningless. We must try to accept ourselves, whether individually or collectively, not only as perfectly good or perfectly bad, but in our mysterious, unaccountable mixture of good and evil. We have to stand by the modicum of good that is in us without exaggerating it. We have to defend our real rights, because unless we respect our own rights we will certainly not respect the rights of others. But at the same time we have to recognize that we have willfully or otherwise trespassed on the rights of others. We must be able to admit this not only as the result of self-examination, but when it is pointed out unexpectedly, and perhaps not too gently, by somebody else.

There is always the problem of over-blown egos and yet there is the problem of those who do not seem to allow their ego to have room to breathe. No one person is all wrong. We are made a community of people. We are the image of God as we are a people. Yes, individually we have many gifts that we must claim. Yes, individually we have many faults that we must claim. That is where we are given the gift of opening our lives up to others who are just like us. Again, I would use the language saint/sinner to help lead us out of ourselves and into the world community in a healthy manner. As Merton notes, this is not something we do in solitude - alone wrestling with our selves. Rather, we must be engaged with other so that the times will come upon us when others will point out our brokenness that we cannot or will not see. This confrontation is a gracious surprise that begins the process of dialogue that has the potential to transform our lives.

Connection: It is too easy to be trampled by others so make sure you do not join in the trampling by ignoring your beauty and gifts and your beloved place before God.

When you bring us together as your beloved, O God, you breathe the peace of your Reign upon us. And yet, there is no magic. Rather, we trust that you engage us with your Spirit so we will engage one another with the vision of your peaceable Reign. Amen.