Hypocrites and Hypocrisy

The English word “hypocrite” comes from a Greek word meaning “actor.” In ancient Greek, the actor was a person putting on a performance, pretending to be and trying to get others to, at least for a little while, believe him to be someone other than who he actually was. This actor would frequently hold up a mask on a stick indicating that he was not acting or speaking in accordance with who he actually was.

Today, we understand a hypocrite to be someone who acts and speaks differently than who he or she actually is. The difference between our current definition and the ancient Greek meaning is that today’s hypocrites want to portray themselves to people as truly being different than they actually are – deliberately, intentionally.

I doubt that there is anybody today who would advocate hypocrisy. I doubt there is anyone who wants to be known as a hypocrite.

I hate hypocrisy. I hate it in others. I hate it even more in myself. The problem is that every last one of us is a hypocrite. At some point or another, every one of us has said something or acted in a way that is contrary to who we actually are or what we actually believe to be true. Hypocrisy is the ultimate lie.

I have come to believe that hypocrisy is what lies at they root of sin. The reason why sin is so sinful is because it says, “Do this. Think this way. This is who you really are,” when in reality the exact opposite is true.

Sin is often defined as that which is contrary to the nature and character of God. If God were to act in a way that was contrary to himself, that would be sin, it would be hypocrisy.

The Bible says that human beings were made in the image and likeness of God. To “act” hypocritically is to “act” in a way that is contrary to our true nature and character. If we humans have been made in the image of God then sin is not just acting in a way contrary to God’s character and nature; it is an act of hypocrisy.

Mary - Theotokos

I’ve posted on my website a sermon I preached a couple of years ago and updated it as a result of a lesson I taught this year. It’s about Theotokos. That’s a theological term (and Greek) applied to Mary. When Mary came to Elizabeth, Elizabeth proclaimed her to be “the mother of my Lord.” I’m not willing to go as far as the Roman Catholics (I don’t know about Orthodox, yet) but we “right wing protestants” (I mean that as negatively as I can) have got to take far more time to reflect on Mary than to which we are prone. We’ve got to get past the “that’s too Catholic” thing.

Mary is, if you will, the Christian disciple prototype. From our human perspective, we look at Mary and say, “What a great thing she did in giving birth to the Son of God.” Yes, that clearly is a great thing. But let’s not get so carried away that we lose sight of the greater thing. She trusted God. That’s what attracted God’s favor to Mary. She, apparently, didn’t realize how big a deal trusting God really was.

Click the link at the title of today’s web log entry if you’re interested in reading my sermon. It’s fairly short (at least, short for me).

More Advent Reflections

Having just read some of John Michael Talbot’s personal reflections on Advent, there have been some more things stirred up in me about Advent.

Actually, Advent itself has that effect on me. It constantly stirs things up in me to think about causing me to reflect. Sometimes those reflections on new to me, but more often they are reflections on familiar thoughts but with more brilliance or more… I don’t know… something.

Very often, my reflections during Advent are rather melancholy. Such thoughts usually focus on what it was Jesus initiated by coming to earth that has yet to be completed. Lately, much of that seems to center on the condition of the Church in the world today. It seems that, fairly regularly over the past several months or even years, I have been saddened and frustrated by and critical of and sometimes cynical towards the Church. I’m frustrated at what seems obviously wrong-headed to me about the Church – Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox. But it has been pointed out to me (once by a friend and once by my wife) that I am too critical and that the kind and manner of my criticism may very well be a symptom of arrogance.

And I have to agree with them.

The Church is not yet perfect. It’s broken because it’s full of broken people who have not yet been perfectly healed and restored to the image of Jesus. I know it will be, one day, but not until all of Creation is perfected. It’s not a case of which comes first – the perfecting of the Church or the perfecting of Creation. They will both be perfected when Christ comes again. I/We just have to wait until the mystery of Christ has been fully revealed – Christ has died; Christ has risen; Christ will come again. We’ve got two of the three. It’s that third part for which we/I have got to patiently and faithfully wait.

The message of Advent, or at least one of the messages of Advent is precisely that. Because Christ has already come once, we can count on him to come again.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

It's All About The Numbers

Click the link above and read the article. This is enough to make me go into spasms.

I’ve read about this twice, now (two different reports), and just heard about it again this morning on NBC’s morning news program. One pastor said something to this effect, “The Bible doesn’t command us to remember the birth of Christ. We’re commanded to remember the death and resurrection of Christ.”

Why did Christians begin worshipping on Sunday? Why has the Church continued to meet for worship on Sundays for 2000 years? Precisely because, on this day, we remember and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It’s not about “remembering” the birth of Christ.

“We want families to be together to celebrate the birth of Christ.” Hmm… they won’t be together if they join together for an hour or so?

“We’re not into forcing anyone to remember Christmas.” No, you’re into forcing them to stay away from a gathering place when it suits you.

“Well, there are lots of people that come to worship on Christmas Eve – probably the highest attended worship service in the year.” That’s a rationale?

“There won’t be very many people who will want to come that morning, anyway.” I wonder how many you must have in order to worship together, in order for Christ to be present. I remember that he did have something to say about that… something about two or three… thousand? hundred?

There is no acceptable rationale for cancelling worship services on Sunday when Christmas happens to fall on that day of the week.

Wait, here’s an idea… let’s send CDs and DVDs for families and individuals to use for “worship” on Christmas. We’ll be able to “reach” far more that way.” And since that is such an obviously great idea, let’s expand on that and skip worshipping together completely and just send out CDs and DVDs to everybody we know. It’s probably more cost effective that way (but don’t count on it), people can “worship” whenever they feel like it (instead of being forced to a particular time slot in the week) and we can do mass mailings every week instead of actually having to personally interact with any of them! Besides, we can “reach” a lot more people that way than we can trying to call meetings all the time.

Gee, it’s too bad Jesus didn’t have all this technology available to him back then. He could have had WAY more apostles than just those 12…

Repentance

From the sermon in our worship service this morning…

 

“Repentance is the process of keeping soft to the Spirit...  One cannot repent of sin without replacing it with righesousness.”

Lessons From My Dog

After I’d been in prayer for a while this morning, my dog began to rattle around.  I mean that literally.  Max wears a collar with some dog tags on it that rattle when he moves around.  I got out of my chair and took Max outside.  I brought him in when he was finished and he headed straight for the bedroom in which my wife was asleep.  Max is rather old.  He doesn’t see or hear very well so he no longer hears my loud whisper, “Max, get out.”  I pushed him out of the room and he headed for the door, again, as if he was thinking I was going to take him outside again.  I began to get frustrated.  I just wanted him to lay back down again, which he will often do after we’ve first taken him out early in the morning.  I left him standing in the living room and headed back to the study to pray some more.  Just as I sat down I thought, “I’m not going to leave him there.  He’ll just wander around and make noise.” So I went back out and, even though I was feeling rather frustrated with him, I bent down, gently picked him up (he’s a small bichon) and carried him back to the study where I set him down and gently pushed him towards a pillow of his in there.

In my prayers, I had been thanking God for the freedom he has given me – more freedom than most people have in the world – to choose what to do in the course of a day let alone with most of my life.  I reflected on some of the wrong choices I’ve made and wondered if I hadn’t been better off with God restricting me more with fewer options.  (I read an article that said that wealth is measured by the choices we have available to us.  Wealthy people have more options.)

I then thought of Max.  I gave Max some options and he chose ones I didn’t want him to choose.  After a bit of time, I chose for him, although the result did not seem to be one of rebellion or anger on his part.

Sometimes God puts us in a place where our choices are limited because he recognizes that the choice that needs to be made is likely to be lost if there are too many options available.  But God wants us to be free… like himself. The salvation that Christ brought to us through his own sacrifice is one that brings us back to being like God, having the freedom to choose that which is good and right and lovely and pure.

I want my day to be filled with those kinds of choices regardless of the options I do or do not have.  Regardless of what my dog may choose or even think, I always have the option to choose what God would have me choose.  That’s freedom.  That’s salvation.  That’s the good news.

 

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

Reflecting on Advent

I have to admit that I really like the season Advent. This is not the same as Christmas. Don’t get me wrong… I like Christmas. But I really do like Advent. Maybe it’s because I grew up and then spent so many years in the Church without ever knowing about Advent. Oh, I’d heard the name, but I just thought Advent was sort of “pre-Christmas.” It is that – but it’s far more than that.

For example, the first Sunday and the first week of Advent, we focus on the coming of the Christ. This isn’t just about remembering the coming of the Christ-child 2000 years ago. It’s remembering that Christ is going to be returning. It’s about remembering that life on this planet is not primarily a party but a work to prepare for the time when our Lord returns to establish his heavenly kingdom fully and finally throughout all creation.

I love thinking about that – not to get lost in it to such an extent that “now” doesn’t matter. (Of course it matters!) But there is hope – no matter how bad things may be now, not matter how badly our best laid plans may turn out, God’s plans will ultimately prevail. All I need to do is align my plans with his. That will determine what I do now both in broad, general ways and in very specific, detailed ways. It determines what is “good” and what is “bad,” what is “right” and what is “wrong.”

So much of the time I am easily distracted by the things that are limited to this world alone. And anybody with an honest bone in their body will admit that there is more to life than just what this world can offer – certainly far more than we comprehend through only our five physical senses. But so much in this world seems to demand that we give it our attention. Advent reminds me that I don’t have to give in to those demands. What I think about during Advent gradually works its way into my mind and heart throughout the rest of the year, throughout the rest of my life. I love being reminded of what I already know to be true because I forget it so often.

This is one of the reasons I so appreciate and enjoy Advent.

About a year ago (yep, it was this time last year) that I first read a snippet from St. Bernard (I believe an abbot of 12^th century France) about Christ coming in three ways. Posted below is the reading.

Three Comings

From a sermon by St. Bernard

(Lit. v. I, p. 168-170)

 

We know that there are three comings of the Lord. The third lies between the other two. It is invisible, while the other two are visible. In the first coming he was seen on earth, dwelling among men; he himself testifies that they saw him and hated him. In the final coming all flesh will see the salvation of our God, and they will look on him whom they pierced. The intermediate coming is a hidden one; in it only the elect see the Lord within their own selves, and they are saved. In his first coming our Lord came in our flesh and in our weakness; in this middle coming he comes in spirit and in power; in the final coming he will be seen in glory and majesty.

Because this coming lies between the other two, it is like a road on which we travel from the first coming to the last. In the first, Christ was our redemption; in the last, he will appear as our life; in this middle coming, he is our rest and consolation.

In case someone should think that what we say about this middle coming is sheer invention, listen to what our Lord himself says: If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him. There is another passage of Scripture which reads: He who fears God will do good, but something further has been said about the one who loves, that is, that he will keep God’s word.

Where is God’s word to be kept? Obviously in the heart, as the prophet says: I have hidden your words in my heart, so that I may not sin against you.

Keep God’s word in this way. Let it enter into your very being, let it take possession of your desires and your whole way of life. Feed on goodness, and your soul will delight in its richness. Remember to eat your bread, or your heart will wither away. Fill your soul with richness and strength.

If you keep the word of God in this way, it will also keep you. The Son with the Father will come to you. The great Prophet who will build the new Jerusalem will come, the one who makes all things new. This coming will fulfill what is written: As we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, we shall also bear the likeness of the heavenly man. Just as Adam’s sin spread through all mankind and took hold of all, so Christ, who created and redeemed all, will glorify all, once he takes possession of all.