I needed this today. I’m grieving. At times I know why. At other times I’m not sure. Part of it stems from a feeling that I’ve been betrayed. Could it be from a broken system or systems. I have no words that do it justice. Your words, Dianna, come the closest. We’ve lost the power (if we ever had it) to listen—really listen to each other.
Thank you for this post Diana. I remember the late Fred Craddock saying, “you can’t get to Bethlehem except through the wilderness with John the Baptist”. There is a level of personal accountability we are called to by John’s preaching and witness, an accountability frequently skirted in our rush to the stable. Justin Welby, for all his evangelical piety, clearly never heard John’s message though I’m sure Welby admonished people from the pulpit about righteous living. He resigned his position only because he was pressured to do so. If he really wanted to take a step in the direction of righting relationships then he would also resign his holy orders. The depth of his betrayal of the victims of Smyth’s abuse requires something more costly than an apology!
Thank you Diana for your sermons and musings which on balance I find nourish my faith and
hope. Thank you for being willing to share at this level with so many.
REading your sermon on hypocrisy - and the balance of Righteousness and self-righteousness, I found Kim D's response helpful:
"Humility, it seems to me, is an essential component of righteousness, and absent from self-righteousness which has been helpful when examining my own attitudes and living."
I accept fully the critiques about Archbishop Welby - the deep sadness and tragedy of misusing one's power to cover up rather than call out injustice. I also recognise how badly he handled his resignation speech in the House of Lords, adding salt to the raw wounds of so many who were abused by John Smythe.
Trust has been profoundly broken at many levels in the Church of England, to which I belong.
However, I need to weigh in to fellow human beings with humility - challenging injustice yes - but recognising the strains of self-righteousness in my own commentaries.
I need God's grace to inform, shape and challenge my own critiques.
The hypocrisy revealed in Justin Welby's talk about justice accompanied by his unjust actions with regards to John Smythe, prompts me examine my use and misuse of power in relation to right relationships with God and all our fellow human beings.
As you, Diana, reminded us a few weeks ago at Thanksgiving:
"Gratitude gives us a new story. It opens our eyes to see that every life is, in unique and dignified ways, graced… Your life. My life. "
I would like to add grace (not cheap grace) to humility, asking for God’s help to keep my eyes open and subject to grace, when I choose to call out the hypocrisy in others.
From the very beginning, when the voice of Mary Magdalen was shut down by domineering male disciples, the glorious potential of the Mystical, egalitarian, loving, Jesus-commanded- and modeled Christian community was undermined by the self-serving soul-wound of ego and greed.
The poison was magnified by Constantine's insidiously-tempting rot injected into the church- --an Imperial power structure that allowed and enforced only one version of Christianity, a male dominance hierarchy backed by immense imperial force and wealth. It was an utter inversion and betrayal of Jesus's original vision of a "better life" for every human.
Every religious "institution" and branch of it is tested by the rot-- do they protect and help the weakest, or do they close ranks and protect themselves, reinforced by institutional power? Do they dare to stand up to the behemoth that pays them? Or do they shuffle the problem off to someone else to deal with, a perpetual moral hot potato game of denial and betrayal of trust?
Cowardice, arrogance, greed, contempt for the victims (women, minorities, the poor, the unwanted "other"), entrenched privilege and power -- all these "logs in their eyes" prevented the early Christian community from seeing the majestic, "righteous," potential kingdom that Jesus tried to give them. His gift was picked apart for scraps and the rest tossed in the trash. Egalitarian sharing, loving care, humility and peaceful coexistence? Not a chance.
Each day, we are invited to share in and step into God's righteous kingdom, to make it unfold on earth as it is in heaven. And each day, we are reminded, both by others and within ourselves, how much work we still have to do.
Thank you for shining a light on the Archbishop resignation, which has barely surfaced in Canadian Anglican circles. (I generalize but beyond an initial statement by our acting Archbishop, there has been nothing said.) It is hypocrisy indeed when the victims are ignored and the "powers" rue the inconvenience one resignation causes.
Humility, it seems to me, is an essential component of righteousness, and absent from self-righteousness which has been helpful when examining my own attitudes and living.
The sentence: righteousness is living in a relationship with God, our world, and all the creatures in it: I would like to add: righteousness is also living in right relationship to self. So much hubris can come from an unexamined self—not addressing our dark side, the unfinished business of forgiveness for past hurts, having an empty hole where love was denied or twisted that we can often cover up with arrogance and self-righteousness, or “believing our own press” e.g. I’ve made it to the top, I must be really good. A right relationship with self means holding the pain of our lives with the successes openly and forthrightly. This is often achieved in a deeply Wesleyan tradition of a “band”—a small group of likewise committed believers who hold your feet to the fire insisting on radical honesty, not just to the dark side but also to the lightness and beauty of God in you. Thank you, Diana, for prodding us to greater more honest righteousness.
Simply thank you for talking about this. It is a sickening thing and as many others have said, that those in power feel free that their own lack of doing what is right and true is somehow excusable. Which for me translates to unforgivable. This bit from a song by U2 rang in my head about that from but primarily the one line, "it's a long way down to nothing at all" I used to use the rite of reconciliation a couple times a year. Primarily right before Lent. My story each year was the same. My anger at my own frustration. Now and then it was kindly suggested I read the Litany for Lent every day during Lent. Suffice to say it didn't stick long, although the cuss jar worked pretty well. One year I was on a Lent retreat and our Canon popped for a couple days, I spoke with her. We discussed righteous anger at length, because that's how she heard me and saw where I was coming from. I truly appreciated her hearing me in those moments and it's something I still carry with me. This really hit home for me. It will give me something to look more deeply into this Advent season
One sentence > Righteousness is living in a relationship with God, our world, and all the creatures in it. Tall order. I can only begin to do it by living in a community. And even then it feels very much alone in a wilderness. Thank God for The Cottage. And also the recent Advent Retreat!
When heads of religious institutions so blatantly ignore this scripture, and the meaning of righteousness is hurtful beyond words. Until this post I did not know the full extent of Welby's et al involvement but I was shocked at his resignation and his apparent lack of caring about the harm done by people he and others let continue to work when he knew about it!
Power over others and money are idols, and idolatry is surely rampant in today's world. The news is noxious overall and hard to absorb or even to hear. Thank you for this honest description and explanation of these situations, which are close to so many. I sometimes forget that these types of situations are nothing new, having been played out repeatedly over human history. Your reading helps me to see the chaotic happenings through a lens focused on grace, love, and how the Triune God is always present and always loves each of us.
Learning about Welby, and reading the terrible responses of people cheering the murder this week of Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare, just deepens my sadness and horror at where we are both as individuals and a nation. We need to reclaim and summon personal accountability and integrity. Social decay runs rampant in all arenas. I guess the saying is, Only God is good.
I read about this scandal and Welby resigning over a week ago. I first felt shock and then very deep sadness and deja vu. Very sadly, I realized I trust almost no one in a position of power. Not those in the church (any church), politicians, those who hold power in sports, those who hold power in the legal and law-enforcement arena (from local sheriffs to the supreme court), etc. Living without trust in leaders and not being shocked and surprised by injustice and hypocrisy is a dreadful way to live. Power so often corrupts. Thank you for your very strong rebuke of hypocrisy and self-righteousness. We are all capable of these maladies. I continue to be resolute in my attention to right living and justice and truth.
Let us live simply and in the light we are given. Let us be focused in our care for each other. Let us live without any need for hypocrisy. Prayers for all of us.
I needed this today. I’m grieving. At times I know why. At other times I’m not sure. Part of it stems from a feeling that I’ve been betrayed. Could it be from a broken system or systems. I have no words that do it justice. Your words, Dianna, come the closest. We’ve lost the power (if we ever had it) to listen—really listen to each other.
Well written. Thought provoking. For those who have ears, let them hear.
Thank you for this post Diana. I remember the late Fred Craddock saying, “you can’t get to Bethlehem except through the wilderness with John the Baptist”. There is a level of personal accountability we are called to by John’s preaching and witness, an accountability frequently skirted in our rush to the stable. Justin Welby, for all his evangelical piety, clearly never heard John’s message though I’m sure Welby admonished people from the pulpit about righteous living. He resigned his position only because he was pressured to do so. If he really wanted to take a step in the direction of righting relationships then he would also resign his holy orders. The depth of his betrayal of the victims of Smyth’s abuse requires something more costly than an apology!
Thank you Diana for your sermons and musings which on balance I find nourish my faith and
hope. Thank you for being willing to share at this level with so many.
REading your sermon on hypocrisy - and the balance of Righteousness and self-righteousness, I found Kim D's response helpful:
"Humility, it seems to me, is an essential component of righteousness, and absent from self-righteousness which has been helpful when examining my own attitudes and living."
I accept fully the critiques about Archbishop Welby - the deep sadness and tragedy of misusing one's power to cover up rather than call out injustice. I also recognise how badly he handled his resignation speech in the House of Lords, adding salt to the raw wounds of so many who were abused by John Smythe.
Trust has been profoundly broken at many levels in the Church of England, to which I belong.
However, I need to weigh in to fellow human beings with humility - challenging injustice yes - but recognising the strains of self-righteousness in my own commentaries.
I need God's grace to inform, shape and challenge my own critiques.
The hypocrisy revealed in Justin Welby's talk about justice accompanied by his unjust actions with regards to John Smythe, prompts me examine my use and misuse of power in relation to right relationships with God and all our fellow human beings.
As you, Diana, reminded us a few weeks ago at Thanksgiving:
"Gratitude gives us a new story. It opens our eyes to see that every life is, in unique and dignified ways, graced… Your life. My life. "
I would like to add grace (not cheap grace) to humility, asking for God’s help to keep my eyes open and subject to grace, when I choose to call out the hypocrisy in others.
From the very beginning, when the voice of Mary Magdalen was shut down by domineering male disciples, the glorious potential of the Mystical, egalitarian, loving, Jesus-commanded- and modeled Christian community was undermined by the self-serving soul-wound of ego and greed.
The poison was magnified by Constantine's insidiously-tempting rot injected into the church- --an Imperial power structure that allowed and enforced only one version of Christianity, a male dominance hierarchy backed by immense imperial force and wealth. It was an utter inversion and betrayal of Jesus's original vision of a "better life" for every human.
Every religious "institution" and branch of it is tested by the rot-- do they protect and help the weakest, or do they close ranks and protect themselves, reinforced by institutional power? Do they dare to stand up to the behemoth that pays them? Or do they shuffle the problem off to someone else to deal with, a perpetual moral hot potato game of denial and betrayal of trust?
Cowardice, arrogance, greed, contempt for the victims (women, minorities, the poor, the unwanted "other"), entrenched privilege and power -- all these "logs in their eyes" prevented the early Christian community from seeing the majestic, "righteous," potential kingdom that Jesus tried to give them. His gift was picked apart for scraps and the rest tossed in the trash. Egalitarian sharing, loving care, humility and peaceful coexistence? Not a chance.
Each day, we are invited to share in and step into God's righteous kingdom, to make it unfold on earth as it is in heaven. And each day, we are reminded, both by others and within ourselves, how much work we still have to do.
Thank you for shining a light on the Archbishop resignation, which has barely surfaced in Canadian Anglican circles. (I generalize but beyond an initial statement by our acting Archbishop, there has been nothing said.) It is hypocrisy indeed when the victims are ignored and the "powers" rue the inconvenience one resignation causes.
Humility, it seems to me, is an essential component of righteousness, and absent from self-righteousness which has been helpful when examining my own attitudes and living.
The sentence: righteousness is living in a relationship with God, our world, and all the creatures in it: I would like to add: righteousness is also living in right relationship to self. So much hubris can come from an unexamined self—not addressing our dark side, the unfinished business of forgiveness for past hurts, having an empty hole where love was denied or twisted that we can often cover up with arrogance and self-righteousness, or “believing our own press” e.g. I’ve made it to the top, I must be really good. A right relationship with self means holding the pain of our lives with the successes openly and forthrightly. This is often achieved in a deeply Wesleyan tradition of a “band”—a small group of likewise committed believers who hold your feet to the fire insisting on radical honesty, not just to the dark side but also to the lightness and beauty of God in you. Thank you, Diana, for prodding us to greater more honest righteousness.
Loved your words about self-righteousness and righteousness. Right on! Margaret.
Simply thank you for talking about this. It is a sickening thing and as many others have said, that those in power feel free that their own lack of doing what is right and true is somehow excusable. Which for me translates to unforgivable. This bit from a song by U2 rang in my head about that from but primarily the one line, "it's a long way down to nothing at all" I used to use the rite of reconciliation a couple times a year. Primarily right before Lent. My story each year was the same. My anger at my own frustration. Now and then it was kindly suggested I read the Litany for Lent every day during Lent. Suffice to say it didn't stick long, although the cuss jar worked pretty well. One year I was on a Lent retreat and our Canon popped for a couple days, I spoke with her. We discussed righteous anger at length, because that's how she heard me and saw where I was coming from. I truly appreciated her hearing me in those moments and it's something I still carry with me. This really hit home for me. It will give me something to look more deeply into this Advent season
One sentence > Righteousness is living in a relationship with God, our world, and all the creatures in it. Tall order. I can only begin to do it by living in a community. And even then it feels very much alone in a wilderness. Thank God for The Cottage. And also the recent Advent Retreat!
When heads of religious institutions so blatantly ignore this scripture, and the meaning of righteousness is hurtful beyond words. Until this post I did not know the full extent of Welby's et al involvement but I was shocked at his resignation and his apparent lack of caring about the harm done by people he and others let continue to work when he knew about it!
Power over others and money are idols, and idolatry is surely rampant in today's world. The news is noxious overall and hard to absorb or even to hear. Thank you for this honest description and explanation of these situations, which are close to so many. I sometimes forget that these types of situations are nothing new, having been played out repeatedly over human history. Your reading helps me to see the chaotic happenings through a lens focused on grace, love, and how the Triune God is always present and always loves each of us.
Thank you Diana. The voice of "righteousness" says to me, Continue in right thinking and right acting.
Learning about Welby, and reading the terrible responses of people cheering the murder this week of Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare, just deepens my sadness and horror at where we are both as individuals and a nation. We need to reclaim and summon personal accountability and integrity. Social decay runs rampant in all arenas. I guess the saying is, Only God is good.
I read about this scandal and Welby resigning over a week ago. I first felt shock and then very deep sadness and deja vu. Very sadly, I realized I trust almost no one in a position of power. Not those in the church (any church), politicians, those who hold power in sports, those who hold power in the legal and law-enforcement arena (from local sheriffs to the supreme court), etc. Living without trust in leaders and not being shocked and surprised by injustice and hypocrisy is a dreadful way to live. Power so often corrupts. Thank you for your very strong rebuke of hypocrisy and self-righteousness. We are all capable of these maladies. I continue to be resolute in my attention to right living and justice and truth.
Let us live simply and in the light we are given. Let us be focused in our care for each other. Let us live without any need for hypocrisy. Prayers for all of us.
Well said, thank you