One of the hardest things in this life to grasp—at least for me—is the ‘why’ behind humanity’s behavior. I often find myself simply responding with “why?” when I hear about violence, hateful speech, or even simple arguments that shouldn’t even be a ‘thing’. Then I recognize those same terrible attributes in my own life. I can be a bit judgmental sometimes; I can get angry over silly nonsense; I will enter into an argument on social media or insert my opinion into conversation without being invited. What’s so important about me that allows me to think it’s absolutely fine to sit back and judge the world while also committing the same atrocities?
Fact is, too many of us are like this, whether we like it or not.
Christians, in particular, are called to live by a higher standard. We’re supposed to be the ones who think before we speak, who spread our personal truths and the word of God with kindness, not vitriol. But lately it seems that Christians have developed a preternatural ability to condescend to and belittle others without a second thought. My question:
Why?
What makes Christians, the Church, the people of God so special that we get to sit upon the judgment seat and look at others with the scales of justice in our eyes? Someone disagrees with our theology? Cancel them. Someone attends a church with whom we hold differing views? Cancel them. Someone doesn’t go to church but talks about how the church hurt them, and we get defensive instead of inclusive? Cancel them. We walk into offices, living rooms, and board meetings with a sense of self-importance; we know best, we hold the only real knowledge of God, you should listen to us. If we ever wonder why people are hesitant to step through the church doors, it’s because they don’t want to be put into a fishbowl of judgment-viewing pleasure. Resurrection is a wonderful community of loving people, yet we still have our own demons to battle. The whole Church-large (God’s one, catholic, UNIVERSAL church) has demons it needs to face. The demons of exclusion, of judgment, of insert-what-the-other-guy-did-wrong-here.
The truth is that we, too, are guilty of excluding others in the name of inclusion. “This church believes ___. So if you don’t, maybe somewhere else is better for you.” Those words aren’t said, but damn, sometimes I feel them when I attend other places, gatherings with clergy, or sit and listen to other pastors talk in coffee shops. The truth is that we, too, judge others on their clothing, their piercings, their neck tattoos, their language, or any other number of ‘their issues’. The truth is that we, too, look for fights in common conversations when ill-intent isn’t intended. We seek it. And we revel in the glory of the argument.
But really? The truth is that none of us is righteous, no not one. The truth is Jesus Christ came to save everyone, not just the people who agree with you or me. The truth is that if we want the Church to swell with vitality, we need to diminish some of the nonsense that we spew on social media and in parking-lot conversations and allow the spirit of God to wash us clean of the particular sin of self-righteousness.
Because the truth is that we are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ, his words through our mouths and his love in our hearts. His kindness in our souls. I hope we can work toward being better. Because the world needs us to. Evil will shy away from the Good News. Every. Single. Time.
And that, my friends, is what the truth is.
Faithfully,
Fr. Sean+