“Jeremy Taylor gives us some fundamental rules for prayer. And the chief of them is this: ‘Do not lie to God.’ And that curt piece of advice, so bluntly thrown down for us, is indeed all-important. Do not burn false fire upon God's altar; do not pose and pretend, either to Him or to yourself, in your religious exercises; do not say more than you mean, or use exaggerated language that goes beyond the facts, when speaking to Him whose word is truth.”
[A. J. Gossip, from Feast of Joseph of Nazareth, Continuing a Lenten series on prayer]
I have been thinking about this lately, since I came across it while searching my computer for something else. While trying to wrap my brain around it, it has taken me in two distinct directions. The first, and more obvious (to me), is that it is a waste of time and energy to pretend to be something that we're not. God knows, after all, so what is the point? And anyway, it shows a lack of respect, or knowledge, or awareness. Or even self-awareness. What are you doing, if you are posing and pretending? Where does the truth leave off and the act begin? Or is it all an act?
The other aspect to this is more public; it is about pretending before others. What does the phrase "church clothes" mean to you? Or, as some people I have known might say, "Sunday go-to-meetin' clothes"? For that matter, what does "churchgoing" mean to you? Or "God-fearing"? "Faithful"? "Religious"? Is it about the freshly-scrubbed child, well-mannered and quiet, filing into a sanctuary behind his parents like a duckling on Benadryl? Is it the teen--however rambunctious, as young adults are known to be--who nonetheless chooses to be a part of her parish's youth group, regularly performing acts of charity because she truly believes (or, even better, just because it is part of her regular, everyday life)? Is it an adult who has been through some hard times and trials, and come out on the other side with scars but also faith--whether or not that adult expresses that faith through organized religion? Or is it a member of the cloth, life lived in relative seclusion, seemingly untested by practicalities and experiencing something simpler than the rest of us can imagine? Is it, in other words, about what we seem to be, or is it about what we are, and believe, and how we behave based upon those beliefs?
If we show up for church all shiny and obvious, and say all the stuff we are supposed to say, but cannot really tell when we are done what we said, much less whether we believe it or not, then is that not the most dangerous of the false fire? It makes others believe that the lie (or, at best, the negligence) is truth. What a huge lie to tell, after all. Since God, y'know, knows.
[I realize that this is way outside my normal boundaries. My brain's been chewing on this too much for too long to keep it to myself.]
It's taken me some time to let this percolate through my brain matter, at least the remnants of same.
ReplyDeleteI think there is a huge disconnect between being SEEN as religious and BEING religious (for lack of a better term). I'm trying to be inclusive of all religions here, so pardon the vagueness. A lot of people like to talk about their beliefs, but the hard part is doing them all the time. And that's where the rubber meets the road.
It matters to me personally not at all whether you believe one way or another, but it makes me INSANE when you SAY you believe "x" but act like "y". Pick an answer, stick with it.
Having said that, people screw up (have you noticed), and there has to be an understanding of that, and allowances made for those times when we blow it. Again, though, it means that when we do that, we have to be honest enough to say, "Wow, that was an immense fail," and try to avoid doing it in the future.
Because, yeah: God knows. And if you don't believe in God, YOU know when you've been dishonest with yourself; it will eat your soul and twist you up inside.