Reflections for 2/16/10

"Some groups of radical disciples wear us out because they are so serious. Everything is so moralistic, heavy and a value judgment of good, better, best, right, wrong. 'The Scriptures say, Don't do this, you must do that.' Maybe I tire of this quickly because I was raised Catholic. Too much moralizing really becomes laborious, self-serving and finally, part of the problem. The mature Christian really is a 'holy fool.'" (R. Rohr "Radical Grace" p. 101)

While I didn't grow up Catholic, or at least Roman Catholic, I know exactly what Rohr means. I too grow weary of listening to the moralizing of some of my brothers and sisters of faith. It is not only what they are saying, but often the tone of voice with which they say it. I often want to throw some Bible verses back their way about logs in eyes, not judging, and a few others that I cannot immediately recall.

But in some ways I actually feel sorry for them. So few of them are in a place to even be talking like that. Their own lives if and when exposed to the light often reveal where all this judgemental moralizing comes from. And quite often it is nothing more than projection and an inability to do any self assessment. If I can point to the faults of others and do so with enough bluster you might pay no attention to "the man behind the curtain."

I've also noticed an absence of joy in these folks lives. They fail to see the beauty around them. To truly embrace the grace and forgiveness that God so desperately wants them to accept. They have somehow convinced themselves that if they can find enough miserable sinners, to point out to God, then God won't notice them.

Blessings,
Ed