[Propertalk] 1 Epiphany b - part 2

[Robert P Morrison]

Here's the second part for Sunday
Bob

 Writing on this continent, a woman described as a “Groundbreaking
President”, the first African-American President of an Ivy League
University, wrote, “Universities must tell the truth. Other
institutions are not tied as closely to transparency and veracity,
because it’s not their tradition, legacy, or expectation. To hold on
to the trust of the public, and sometimes to even earn it or reclaim
it, universities have to be associated with this kind of disclosure.

	 “When they fail to do that, they become just another corrupt
institution that should be challenged in every dimension of its
enterprise. It does not simply pertain to slavery; it pertains to
everything we do.” 1

	 I agree with what she said. It seems to address this same issue of
dealing with darkness and chaos, and how to combat them in our daily
lives. We know that she was talking of how higher education is or is
not functioning right now, but what I find disturbing is that she
makes mention of “other institutions” and doesn’t hold them to
the same high standard of resisting chaos.

	 What of the church – both local and denominational? Does the
church get a pass? Or its individual constituents? Is the church free
to descend to using the tactics of chaos? Or should it talk and
operate out of the clarity, the justice, the compassion with which
Jesus was bathed in the Jordan, and with which He was raised out of
the water?

	 If we do NOT, as our baptismal promises demand; if we do NOT live
for all that is clean, and just, and honest; if the church will not
listen, and debate, and show respect, and call for repentance as both
John the Baptist and Jesus did, repentance in the church and in
society, then, in Ruth J. Simmons’ words, surely we have “become
just another corrupt institution.”

	 Both our creation by God and our Baptism into the life of Jesus
demand more than that.

	 It’s curious that within a day or two of these comments of Dr.
Simmons, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote from Britain on the same general
theme.

	 “I have become increasingly concerned about the assault on free
speech taking place throughout the West, particularly in university
campuses. This is being done in the name of ‘safe space,’ that is,
space in which you are protected against hearing views which might
cause you distress, ‘trigger warnings’ and
‘micro-aggressions,’ that is, any remark that someone might find
offensive even if no offence is meant. …

	 “Undoubtedly this entire movement was undertaken for the highest
of motives, to protect the feelings of the vulnerable. That is a
legitimate ethical concern. Jewish law goes to extremes in condemning
_lashon hara_, hurtful or derogatory speech, and the sages were
careful to use what they called _lashon sagi nahor_, euphemism, to
avoid language that people might find offensive.
 “But a safe space is not one in which you silence dissenting views.
To the contrary: it is one in which you give a respectful hearing to
views opposed to your own, knowing that your views too will be
listened to respectfully. That is academic freedom, and it is
essential to a free society. As George Orwell said, ‘If liberty
means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do
not want to hear.’ …
 “What is striking about Judaism, (and I would add Christianity
also) … is that _argument and the hearing of contrary views is of
the essence of the religious life._ Moses argues with God. That is one
of the most striking things about him.” 2

	The same holds true for Abraham, before Moses, and Jeremiah, and
Habakkuk, and Job and many other of our Hebrew Covenant friends. In
fact, as Lord Sacks pointed out, arguing with God is giving a specific
name: it is “argument for the sake of heaven, defined as debate for
the sake of truth as opposed to victory.” Truth as opposed to
victory – darkness and chaos aren’t interested in that. For many
in society, victory at any cost is the only criterion, not renewal,
not raising to new life, not compassion, not dignity.

	And why should we worry about this? “First, because only God can
see the totality of truth. For us, mere mortals who can see only
fragments of the truth at any one time, there is an irreducible
multiplicity of perspectives. We see reality now one way, now
another.”

	We learn this from God, who chose to bring everything into being, who
deliberately made this a place where we may live and prosper, who
called Jesus to the water and raised Him to ministry; God, who called
us through our own baptismal promises to reject chaos wherever we find
it.

	Rabbi Sacks concludes, “When you learn to listen to views different
from your own, realising that they are not threatening but enlarging,
then you have discovered the life-changing idea of argument for the
sake of heaven.”

	Jesus wasn’t baptized to shut people up. Jesus was baptised, and
acknowledged as God’s Son, to renew us and to draw us away from
anything which creates or propagates the darkness of chaos. Jesus was
baptised to make each of us, as individuals, whole. But there’s
more. Jesus was baptised so that we would confront chaos in all of its
forms while not stifling dissent and discussion. The only condition,
at least on the part of Jesus’ followers, is that we are to confront
out of respect, to honour differences, to listen, and, yes, as Rabbi
Sacks pointed out, even to argue with God.

	 This is what we are about: 

	(wrote Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw, about Archbishop Oscar Romero,
who was murdered by government forces for confronting chaos)
 We plant seeds that one day will grow.
 We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future
promise.
 We lay foundations that will need further development.
 We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities. 
 We cannot do everything
 and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
 This enables us to do something,
 and to do it very well.
 It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
 an opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest. 
 We may never see the end results,
 but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
 We are workers, not master builders,
 ministers, not messiahs.
 We are prophets of a future not our own. 3

	NOTES:

	[1]  _“__Career Advice From a Groundbreaking President”_ by Adam
Harris JANUARY 01, 2018  Career Advice From a Groundbreaking President
- The Chronicle of Higher Education
www.chronicle.com/article/Career-Advice-From-a/ [1]...

	2 _ “God Loves to Argue, Shemot 577b” by _Rabbi Lord Jonathan
Sacks. 3rd January, 2018 info at rabbisacks.org rabbisacks.org > covenant
and conversion

	3 _“Prophets of a Future Not Our Own”_ BISHOP KEN UNTENER of
Saginaw, drafted for a homily by Card. John Dearden in Nov. 1979 for a
celebration of departed priests. ARCHBISHOP OSCAR ROMERO PRAYER: A
STEP ALONG THE WAY [2] www.usccb.org › Prayer and Worship ›
Prayers and Devotions › Prayers


Links:
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[1] http://www.chronicle.com/article/Career-Advice-From-a/
[2]
http://mail2.spectrum.net/HTTPS://WWW.GOOGLE.COM/URL?SA=T&RCT=J&Q=&ESRC=S&SOURCE=WEB&CD=1&CAD=RJA&UACT=8&VED=0AHUKEWIV94DP3R7YAHUS9WMKHEW3BRUQFGGNMAA&URL=HTTP%3A%2F%2FWWW.USCCB.ORG%2FPRAYER-AND-WORSHIP%2FPRAYERS-AND-DEVOTIONS%2FPRAYERS%2FARCHBISHOP_ROMERO_PRAYER.CFM&USG=AOVVAW1ZPUZGMIZON3FX1FCMDOLN

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