[Propertalk] St Alban's Day - 2

Sat Jun 25 21:23:24 EDT 2016

Part 2

	 Barbara Cawthorne Crafton, in an interesting essay called “Mensch
and Mitzvah”, 4 wrote, “In Judaism, the mitzvah -- the good deed
-- isn't an option. It's an obligation. You don't get extra points
with God for doing a good deed -- you have to do the mitzvah in order
to be an observant Jew. Even secular Jews, who do not keep the welter
of other Jewish laws, remember the obligation of the mitzvah, and have
taught us all to expect that all Jews will have a strong commitment to
social justice. We're always surprised when we meet one who seems not
to care much about it.”

	 This was carried over from Judaism, with nary a second thought, by
the early Church. This is “turning the other cheek”, “going the
extra mile”, “feeding the hungry”, “visiting those in
prison”, and so on.

	 It doesn’t really matter WHY Alban became host to the priest. It
is enough to know that he did it. He reached out to a man – did he
know that this was a priest, I wonder – Alban reached out and
probably only then discovered that he was someone whom the law
enforcement and court officials were chasing. The rule of hospitality
prevailed and, over the course of the next few days, by listening to
the priest pray and talk, he was so impressed that he took on the
patterns of the priest’s life and converted to Christianity. It was
only natural, then, when the Romans came to his door, he passed
himself off as the priest, allowing him to escape. He placed himself
in the complete person of the one who’d told him about Jesus and
demonstrated how Jesus calls us to live.

	 “I wonder now,” wrote a professor from Oklahoma, “I wonder now
as I have continued to wonder for some time, what might happen if all
religious traditions preached messages not simply of love (as many of
us know and have heard for years, we have been loved, while our sins
have not), but rather, messages of radical love that must by extension
mean full inclusivity for all human life — an inclusiveness so
profound that there would be no need for councils, conferences,
discussions, or debates on which lives matter and to what degree they
do. I wonder. And I hope for something different. Many of us do.” 5

	 What Jesus, asked, based on the teaching of the Judaism he lived;
what Alban did, based on the priest’s convictions; what we see all
around us, every day, time and time again, is, as Professor Mena
wrote, such a radical love that should take our breath away when it is
shown to us, and be absolutely our second nature from the time we get
up in the morning to the time we go to bed at night.

	 I have to admit to having been a little worried when Deacon Senitila
called us to be kind. “Kind” is a word that can be so overused.
It’s been softened so often that it may become little more than
another sentimental word on some greeting card. Being kind, though,
should fill us with fire, should make us so passionate that we spill
out our feelings, our hopes, our whole beings on behalf of others –
ANY others, no matter where, no matter when.

	 “Jo was a leader who fought for genocide victims in Darfur, for
survivors of human trafficking, for women’s health, for Syrian
refugees, and, yes, for remaining in the European Union. She was also
a proud mom of two small children: When she was pregnant, she used to
sign her emails “Jo (and very large bump).”

	 “Jo’s dedication to the voiceless may have cost her life. At
least one witness said that the man who stabbed and shot Jo shouted
‘Britain First!’” 6

	 “Britain First!” indeed! What if Alban had said, “Druids
First!”? Or “Celts before everyone else!”, and thrown the priest
out on the street?

	 Was Alban looking to die? Certainly not, not any more than Jo Cox,
the young Yorkshire Member of Parliament, was. It’s not a matter of
deliberately martyr-ising. It’s simply a matter of ALWAYS being
ready to stand up for, and to stand in for, anyone and everyone, no
matter who, no matter where

	 As many people have said, “We all know what is fundamentally
right, …” Well, I’m not sure I’m fully convinced about that,
but I’m working on it and maybe listening with the open ears and
heart Alban exhibited might help me further down the road. But
that’s not the end of the quotation. “We all know what is
fundamentally right, but it’s what you do with that knowledge that
counts.” That came from a blog with the intriguing title, “It’s
Better to be Kind, Than it is to be ‘Right.’” 7 As I drove down
I-5 from a diocesan meeting in Salem yesterday, I happened to hear a
really interesting programme which talked about the man named one of
the fifty greatest players in history. Rick Barry was an incredibly
accurate scorer, especially in free throws. How? He threw underhand
– completely legal. There’s nothing at all to prevent it, and he
said it’s the most natural way to control one’s muscles and to
send the ball through the hoop. He talked to at least two generations
of players about this. He showed them. He more than doubled Wilt
Chamberlain’s accuracy.

	 The problem was, although Chamberlain and others KNEW this, they
wouldn’t follow it. They didn’t want to put up with thoughtless
and mean-spirited teasing, as Barry did. So they sacrificed their
games –AND that of their team-mates … think about THAT for a
moment! – they sacrificed their games for the sake of appearances.

	 It put me back in front of a home in the vicinity of what is now the
community of St. Alban’s, northwest of London. It puts me in DaNoble
House in Waldport. It puts me – it puts me everywhere with the
knowledge that I DO know what is fundamentally right. But it’s what
I DO with it that counts. THIS is how we know what love is.

	NOTES:

	[1] 
[1]https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj869CK5bnNAhVaGGMKHdO3C6QQFggcMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FTo_Be_Kind&usg=AFQjCNGJkzFPLq4VrZSZGODm0sqk2DfjIA
[2]

	2 Louis Pattison of _Uncut [3]_ - cited at article noted above.

	3 _“Kind synonyms, Kind antonyms”_ www.thesaurus.com/browse/KIND
[4]

	4 _“Mensch and Mitzvah”_ by Barbara Cawthorne Crafton in_ “The
Geranium Farm” _WWW.GERANIUMFARM.ORG/DAILYEMO.CFM?EMO=658 [5]

	5 Peter Anthony Mena, Phillips Theological Seminary in Oklahoma

	6 _“R.I.P., Jo Cox. May Britain Remember Your Wisdom.” By
_Nicholas Kristof [6] 

	JUNE 21, 2016 
[7]http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=4z5Q7LhI+KVBjmEgFdYACPLKh239P3pg1IzqXWKFP3ky%2FqsV+VlwYcetoVa8f%2FPTfiJnp9POdKejSvWVHrT24JXbGzmOoSPjyrpPBRNhocSZMtYik8aVquQPyaTpj%2Fr+p99FCp0+EH8ZWUK6%2FMeZzSh+6YpVRsJcZEcqo9e2dKYrR3AQc6K9Bg%3D%3D&campaign_id=8420&instance_id=78105&segment_id=91292&user_id=13776d46e58cd1c84bbfacad680c03b7&regi_id=63205127
[8]

	7 _“THE BLOG __It’s Better To Be Kind, Than It Is To Be
‘Right.’” _ 06/20/2016 06:27 pm ET 
[9]https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj869CK5bnNAhVaGGMKHdO3C6QQqQIIODAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2Fzac-thompson%2Fits-better-to-be-kind_b_10579048.html&usg=AFQjCNGgtr4VY7CnRTlrZwKv_uO819mImw
[10]

	Zac Thompson,  [11]Outspeak Editor, in association with The
Huffington Post


Links:
------
[1]
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj869CK5bnNAhVaGGMKHdO3C6QQFggcMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FTo_Be_Kind&usg=AFQjCNGJkzFPLq4VrZSZGODm0sqk2DfjIA
[2]
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj869CK5bnNAhVaGGMKHdO3C6QQFggcMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FTo_Be_Kind&usg=AFQjCNGJkzFPLq4VrZSZGODm0sqk2DfjIA
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncut_(magazine)
[4] http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/kind
[5]
http://mail2.charter.net/HTTP://WWW.GERANIUMFARM.ORG/DAILYEMO.CFM?EMO=658
[6] http://www.nytimes.com/column/nicholas-kristof
[7]
http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=4z5Q7LhI+KVBjmEgFdYACPLKh239P3pg1IzqXWKFP3ky%2FqsV+VlwYcetoVa8f%2FPTfiJnp9POdKejSvWVHrT24JXbGzmOoSPjyrpPBRNhocSZMtYik8aVquQPyaTpj%2Fr+p99FCp0+EH8ZWUK6%2FMeZzSh+6YpVRsJcZEcqo9e2dKYrR3AQc6K9Bg%3D%3D&campaign_id=8420&instance_id=78105&segment_id=91292&user_id=13776d46e58cd1c84bbfacad680c03b7&regi_id=63205127
[8]
http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=4z5Q7LhI+KVBjmEgFdYACPLKh239P3pg1IzqXWKFP3ky%2FqsV+VlwYcetoVa8f%2FPTfiJnp9POdKejSvWVHrT24JXbGzmOoSPjyrpPBRNhocSZMtYik8aVquQPyaTpj%2Fr+p99FCp0+EH8ZWUK6%2FMeZzSh+6YpVRsJcZEcqo9e2dKYrR3AQc6K9Bg%3D%3D&campaign_id=8420&instance_id=78105&segment_id=91292&user_id=13776d46e58cd1c84bbfacad680c03b7&regi_id=63205127
[9]
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj869CK5bnNAhVaGGMKHdO3C6QQqQIIODAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2Fzac-thompson%2Fits-better-to-be-kind_b_10579048.html&usg=AFQjCNGgtr4VY7CnRTlrZwKv_uO819mImw
[10]
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj869CK5bnNAhVaGGMKHdO3C6QQqQIIODAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2Fzac-thompson%2Fits-better-to-be-kind_b_10579048.html&usg=AFQjCNGgtr4VY7CnRTlrZwKv_uO819mImw
[11] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/zac-thompson

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