Living Intentionally - June 18
Today’ Readings: AM Psalm [83] or 34; PM Psalm 85, 86; Num. 12:1-16; Rom. 2:12-24; Matt. 18:10-20
Today I crossed the halfway mark of my time in Sewanee. I've been reading a great deal of Augustine, Basil, Origen, and Chrysostom, along with a steady stream of journal articles exploring the Old Testament texts from the Revised Common Lectionary. If you've been reading these reflections for a while, you can probably see where this is headed. Whether in these daily reflections or in my preaching, you'll likely hear more voices from the early Church in the months ahead. In fact, Augustine even makes an appearance in my sermon this Sunday.
Toward the end of his life, Augustine gathered the clergy who lived with him in the monastery at Hippo (Sermon 355, for those who want to look it up). One of the expectations he placed on those joining the monastery was that they sell their possessions and either give the proceeds to the poor or entrust them to the church for the care of the poor. Augustine believed this was part of the vocation to the monastic life. His guiding principle came from St. Paul: "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1).
As it happened, one of the clerics, a man named Januarius, died, and his will was discovered. When he entered the monastery, Januarius had told Augustine that he had given part of his estate to his children, something Augustine considered both wise and appropriate. But the will revealed that he had later taken that inheritance away from his children, who were now fighting over it, and instead left everything to the church.
Augustine was furious.
"I don't want these gifts," he said. "I don't like the taste of such bitter fruit."
For Augustine, the issue was never the money. It was integrity. He wanted people's lives to reflect the commitments they claimed to have made.
Near the end of the sermon he writes, "I don't want to have any hypocrites. It is bad—who would deny it?—to fall away from one's commitment; but it is worse to pretend to have such a commitment."
If we're honest, all of us are hypocrites at some level. The work of the spiritual life is to allow our actions to become more closely aligned with what we profess to believe. Selling everything and entering a monastery is not the calling most of us have received, but each of us is called to greater integrity, allowing our lives to reflect more faithfully the love of Christ.
As I read today's Gospel from Matthew, I think this is one place we can begin. How often do we complain about friends, loved ones, church members, coworkers, or bosses instead of speaking directly and lovingly to them? Jesus' instruction is given specifically to the Church, but it offers an ethic that is worthy of all our relationships.
Perhaps we are all hypocrites. But perhaps, by God's grace and with one another's encouragement, we can become a little less so each day, until the Kingdom comes and our lives more fully reflect the love, mercy, and truth of Christ.
John+
Question for Self-Reflection: Where is there a gap between what I profess to believe and the way I am living today—and what small step might God be inviting me to take toward greater integrity?