P4E.279 A Societal Crossroads

 

“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”

Robert Frost

Eons of human existence resulted in social contracts that allowed individuals to live in relative harmony in society. These social contracts allowed people to communicate and interact with confidence, knowing that the definition of words and social constructs were held in common. We’ve referred to that state of affairs as Western Civilization. We became civilized by the mutual understandings that allow us to live together in relative peace.

If human history was represented as a 24 hour clock, it is only in the last fraction of a second that postmodern deconstruction has laid waste to the social contracts that took eons to bind. Religion and philosophy have been the vehicles that gave meaning to life. Science was welcomed into that circle but has been a double edged sword. It has been useful in answering the questions of what, when, and where. The questions of who and why are still left to religion and philosophy.

Now it seems that every social contract is being brought into question. This has brought about a complete breakdown in trust. We can no longer communicate with confidence. This is forcing us to separate, to segregate, to silo with others with whom we can confidently socialize. Interaction is becoming increasingly difficult, because the unspoken “rules” of engagement are no longer clear. Is authority powerless? Is solid porous? Is uniformity weakness? Is diversity strength? Is black white? Is conservation waste? Is law liberty? Is truth deceit? Is violence peace? Is male female? Is death life?  Is good evil?

This discourse is, by nature, conservative because it implies that order is better than chaos. It relies on thoughtfulness over emotion. It values social contracts over anarchy. But this is the crossroads we approach. Do we devolve into disorder, or can we pull back from the edge and form new social contracts that keep us civil? Time will tell.

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.”

Matthew 7:13

P4E.278 Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

The Annunciation to the Shepherds, Nicolaes Berchem, 1649

I'm recently reminded how laden with meaning the traditional hymns that we sing at Christmas are. Here, as an example, are the lyrics of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. The hymn we sing at Christmas is the collaboration of two greats, Charles Wesley and Felix Mendelssohn. Lyrics written in the 18th century and music in the 19th. We usually know the first verse of these hymns and have to refer to the hymnal for the following verses. I've been surprised by how rich the second and third verses of this hymn are.

1 Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King:
peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
join the triumph of the skies;
with th'angelic hosts proclaim,
"Christ is born in Bethlehem!"

2 Christ, by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
late in time behold him come,
offspring of the Virgin's womb:
veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
hail th'incarnate Deity,
pleased with us in flesh to dwell,
Jesus, our Immanuel.

3 Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
born that we no more may die,
born to raise us from the earth,
born to give us second birth.

God bless you this Christmas!

Peace on Earth.

P4E.277 The Impossible, Unbearable, Ennobling Burden

 

Social media has provided a mask of anonymity that encourages us to write things that we would self-censor in person. In augmented reality, we create avatar-personas that we allow to be much more judgmental and verbally hostile than we are in real-life. The social media feed-back loop that reinforces and rewards our arrogant attitudes is ever present and urges us to write more and more outrageous things and to espouse shocking ideas. We have been brought to a place where so much is considered “unforgivable” and so many are “cancelled”, that many people fear for their future.

In this social/political/cultural atmosphere we’d do well to remember the virtues that Judeo-Christianity has advanced to humanity since the beginning of recorded time.

Humility: If there’s one virtue that Judeo-Christianity has promulgated, it is humility. In the face of an Almighty God, in the Books of the Old and New Testament, the stories that unfold repeatedly teach the lesson of humility. Humility is at odds with arrogance. The arrogance of knowing that the position/opinion/values that one holds are absolutely, undoubtedly correct. Not only correct, but morally true. And that means if another disagrees, they must be immoral liars. Jesus taught humility in Luke 13:

23 And someone said to Him, "Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?" And He said to them, 24 "Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!' then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.' 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets'; 27 and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; depart from Me, all you evildoers .'28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out. 29 And they will come from east and west and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. 30 And behold, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last."

This idea of thinking that you have a relationship and would be able to enter only to be told you are not known and to depart must be meant to impart humility. What could be more direct than to be told that the last will be first and the first will be last?

Non-Judgment: Christ repeatedly reminds us that we should not judge. Why? Jesus tells us in Luke 6:

 

36 “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 37 Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned.”

It seems so easy, in these times, to judge and condemn others; so difficult to extend mercy and pardon. But we must consider the humility necessary to be aware that we are guilty of the very things that we are judging and condemning. Later in Luke 6 Jesus says:

 

42 “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye.” 

Forgiveness: It is Judeo-Christianity that has promulgated the virtue of forgiveness in the western world. The One God is presented as the highest good, to be reverenced and followed and emulated. He is described by Moses in Numbers 14:

 

18 “The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression.”

 

When Jesus gives us the template for prayer in Matthew 6 He says:

 

12 “…forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us…

14 If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. 15 But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

 

Love: The binding force between all the other virtues is Love. Love provides the humility to consider others before ourselves. Love curbs and softens our hearts towards those whom we would judge and condemn. Love gives us the moral imperative to let go of a grudge. When asked what the greatest commandments were, Jesus responded in Mark 12:

 

29 “…This is the most important: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

 

I have said that Judeo-Christianity holds the key…has always held the key…to the current social/political/cultural climate. The One God is to be held in highest esteem and is to be reverenced, followed, emulated, and loved above all else. Even knowing that it isn’t possible to achieve oneness with God, that the burden is great and un-bearable, we are ennobled even in the pursuit.

Give Thanks!

P4E.276 My Will Be Done

 

The Pastor of our church used the phrase “My will be done” in a homily a few weeks ago. He contrasted it with “Thy will be done” in The Lord’s Prayer. It’s stuck with me.

As I look back over my life, it’s been blessed. I grew up in Highland Park, California. That’s considered “East-LA”. My father immigrated from China when he was a child and my mother is of Mexican descent, born in La Mesa, New Mexico. My father was a federal bank examiner and my mother worked for financial institutions and the local school district. When I was around 10 years old, we moved to Orange County, California. I would say we progressed from lower middle-class to middle middle-class.

I graduated from the California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, was married at 21 and am still married to the same lovely wife 44 years later. We had 3 sons and now have 3 daughters-in-law and 3 grandchildren. I’ve had a long, fulfilling career as an architect and engineer. I was raised Catholic, left the Church for Protestant/Evangelical/Non-Denominational churches and have now since returned to the Catholic Church.

There have been no major disasters in my life. No tears in the fabric of my being. No huge holes in my heart. I’ve had a good life. For me, this has become a double-edged sword. All this good fortune has brought about expectations. Because things have fallen into place in my life, I expect them to continue to do so. When they do not, even on the smallest level, I find myself put out. I’m impatient, frustrated, and angry. Strangely, when the relatively bigger challenges arise, I’m more patient, more resolved to accept the fates. It’s the small things that gnaw at my longsuffering. Let the paper misload in the printer; let an important phone call be missed; let the customer service person be less than helpful and I’m undone.

My wife regularly (and rightly) points out my lack of gratitude. I used to wonder what gratitude had to do with the challenges I was experiencing. How it would help me endure the internet service that keeps buffering and cutting out?

I want MY WILL to be done! That means, things go right. Without a hitch. No problems. “Well,” my wife wonders, “Where in the world did you ever get the idea that you were entitled to a world with no problems?” She’s right about that. She is right about that.

Becoming aware of the strength of people who are struggling with cancer, who’ve been molested or harassed or mistreated, who’ve lost loved ones in tragic circumstances, who’ve lost a limb, or become completely paralyzed, who’ve failed repeatedly, who are caring for a loved one who’s health is failing, or worst of all, who are losing hope should and does make me feel grateful for my lot in life.

But the Holy Scriptures of my Faith also point out that I should not only be grateful for the good things that have happened in my life but also be grateful for the trials that befall me.

“Consider it all joy…when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4)

I need to be reminded that these trials are meant to turn my attention to the One who is the source of the comfort that gets me through them and why.

 

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Cor. 1:3-4)

In these times, I’m not looking for relief from suffering. I will suffer. If I'm not suffering now, it will surely come. Who will I be when the suffering comes? Will I purposely make it worse? Will my response compound the grief and sorrow? Or will I endure and be a source of strength and comfort to those who need it? I fervently pray that I am the latter. Not mine, but His will be done.