From the UCC Network: 09/20/2011 "Quibbling and Quoting"

Quibbling and Quoting

Mark 1:21-22

"When the Sabbath arrived, Jesus lost no time in getting to the meeting place. He spent the day there teaching. They were surprised at his teaching—so forthright, so confident—not quibbling and quoting like the religion scholars."  (The Message)

Reflection by Lillian Daniel

"So what does your church believe?" If someone asked you that question, what would you say?

In the spirit of confession, let's acknowledge that many of us might respond by telling the person what our church does not believe. We might say, "We're not closed-minded, but open to all ideas. We welcome everybody, unlike some other churches. We're not like the fundamentalists who take scripture literally. And we're not like the churches who won't ordain women."

"OK," says the patient inquirer. "So what do you believe?"

We might continue, "Well, we believe that people can be free to believe many different things, so that's a tricky question to answer."

"OK, then," says the inquirer, now less patient. "Then what do you believe?"

"Well, I'm on a journey. It's a private matter. Here are the authors who have meant something to me and can say it so much better than I could. . . Blah, blah, blah."

Oh, just stop it.

We are told that one of the things that impressed Jesus' listeners was that he spoke plainly, "not quibbling and quoting like the religious scholars." He just put his beliefs and teachings out there and was ready to withstand some debate.

You can be open-minded and still know what you think. You can be accepting of other people's ideas but still willing to articulate your own. You can rejoice in the many diverse paths to God and still invite your neighbor to church.

Just say it.

Prayer

God, you have already given me the words to express how I know and love you. Help me get over the quibbling and quoting, and just say it. Otherwise, how will they know? Amen.

About the Author Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church, UCC, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author, with Martin Copenhaver, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

Can only difficult action be called good and virtuous? [cross-post]

FROM THE CCBLOGS NETWORK

Can only difficult action be called good and virtuous?

Sep 19, 2011 by Don Scrooby

The German poet Schiller said this: "How gladly I'd serve my friends, but alas, I do so with pleasure. And so I have this nagging feeling that it's unethical."

What I find so sad about this quote is that Schiller feels almost guilty about something good (serving his friends) which he naturally finds  pleasure in doing. And so because it's pleasurable it has this unethical flavour about it. 

Where does this kind of feeling stem from? I think it comes from that unbalanced view that we are naturally evil and that our natural inclination is always to do evil. It says further that only action which is hard and difficult to perform can ultimately be called good or virtuous. Many will say, well, yes, the words of St Paul affirm this - "For what I do is not the good that I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing." There's truth here, but as with everything, when you push it too far it starts becoming false.

What about balancing, then, Paul's experience with Jeremiah's words; "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts." Just maybe in these words a natural going with the grain of our inmost being naturally issues forth in goodness and virtue. Maybe, expressing virtue doesn't have to be this hard and demanding struggle. Maybe it's the most natural thing we can do. Perhaps, we've just lost touch with this part of ourselves because for too long we've been told otherwise.

Matthew Fox makes the point that for ages we've laboured under the weight of original sin conveniently forgetting the innate beauty of our original blessing, and that the time has now come to correct this sad imbalance. What would that ultimately mean for us? A new found trust in the Divine and ourselves? I believe so.

Originally posted at Seeing More Clearly.