Hubris and Humility

Last week I had a bite of reality.  I was diagnosed with pneumonia which was and is a first for me (consequently no edition of News and Views last week).  It stared with cold-like symptoms and the pneumonia bug, opportunistic, sneaky little devil it is, took up residence and has been hanging on by its finger nails since.  I have, for a long time, been proud of my ability to resists colds.  I can count the number of colds I have had in the last ten or fifteen years on one hand.  It was a matter of pride me.  Well as they say pride goeth before the fall and fall and it certainly did.

On reflection, I realize that pride can come in small and large ways but it is still pride.  Coincidentally, if you believe in coincidences, the Gospel reading from last Sunday here, ended with Jesus saying, “whosoever exalts himself shall be abased and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.”   So, here I was with a case of pride about what I thought was my great immune system which did not turn out to be as great as I thought it was.  Now you can say what harm did it do for me to do that and that is true.  It didn’t affect anyone else but me.  After all I didn’t think less of people who were susceptible to colds, not much anyway.  However, it did bring home to me the fact that pride can be very insidious.  If I felt that way about a small think I can easily be thinking that way about bigger and more significant things.    

It seems inevitable that we humans will compare ourselves to others.  How am I doing in x or y.  Well, I seem to be doing better than him and not as well compared to her and so on and on.  It can be anything from success (as the world defines it of course), a bigger house, a nice car or cars, a better job, higher on the career ladder.  It can be physical characteristics, better looking, bigger, or stronger.  It can even sneak into areas that you least expect.  Well, I’m a better Spiritual Director than that person or I am a more spiritual person than those people.   Boy I sure am more mature than she is.  Wow, I am closer to God that they are.  It really is insidious and perhaps that serpents in the garden is still at work albeit with a different kind of fruit than it used on our first ancestors.

I have been interested in the idea of humility for many years.  It comes with its with its evil twin hubris.  They are perhaps the opposite sides of the same coin, but perhaps not.  Hubris is, I believe, the consequences of comparisons.  I am better than others.  Indeed, I am so much better that I can do it all on my own and I don’t need anyone else and indeed I don’t owe my success to anyone else.  I certainly don’t need or owe anything to God.  One definition of hubris which catches the sense of it is:

a personality quality of extreme or foolish pride or dangerous overconfidence, often in combination with arrogance. In its ancient Greek context, it typically describes behavior that defies the norms of behavior or challenges the gods, and which in turn brings about the downfall, or nemesis, of the perpetrator of hubris.

To return to the Gospel passage from Sunday, we have those who exalt themselves being humbled in the next life and visa versa.  It may not be accurate to say that to exalt oneself (pride) is the opposite side of humility but they certainly are related.  I would say that humility is the cure for hubris or foolish pride.  I have been attracted to various writing about humility over the years, perhaps because I knew it was secretly an issue with me which I didn’t want to acknowledge to myself.  The first thing about humility that I remember reading was that a truly humble person can’t be humiliated.  I clung to that as an anecdote to past and future humiliations.  However, the best definition of humility that I have come across is, “to see things clearly.”  I wasn’t clear initially what that was getting at. 

However, on reflection and consideration it became clearer.  If I can see myself clearly, I will know and acknowledge that I am not the master of my fate.  I will know that I am truly not in charge and whatever small gifts I have are not due in large part to the benefits I have received in life which I didn’t earn.  I will begin to acknowledge that, in one way or many ways, they are gifts from God.  It is foolish pride to challenge God or the gods. 

Another definition about humility which I can across recently addresses this.  It defines the characteristic of humility as, “the self-forgetfulness which makes room for God.”  That is the challenge; how to make room for God in all aspects of life.  That is something I continue to struggle with and probably will.  However, if I try really hard I might do it better than others. 

Blessing on your journey with pride and humility.

5 Marks of Love; Tell

Yesterday we had the second session of our Lenten Series the 5 Marks of Love. We dealt with the first of the Marks of Love after the introduction to the program last week.  Just as a reminder the 5 Marks of love are:

1.     TELL: Proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom

2.     TEACH: Teach, baptize and nurture new believers

3.     TEND: Respond to human need by loving service

4.     TRANSFORM: Transform unjust structures, challenge violence of every kind

5.     Treasure: Strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth

Proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom is about that thing which Anglicans are, to put it mildly, not comfortable with i.e. Evangelism.  How do we proclaim the Good News i.e. the Gospel of Jesus Christ when we have (speaking generally) not been taught how to do it and have not, until the last part of the 20^th Century, needed to do it? We do not have the history or experience or training to do this; it is not part of our DNA.  That is one of the reasons why our congregations are aging and the pews are no longer full (although we do sit at the back to make sure there will be room in the front of the church for latecomers to find a spot in a pew—we are still using pews pretty much exclusively).

In addition there are some of us—the introverts—who would die a thousand deaths if we had to knock on doors and invite people to our churches much less engage them in why we are Anglicans and what we actually believe in.  We have a long way to go to begin to Evangelize.

Actually that would be true if we only consider Evangelism to be what is portrayed by TV Evangelists and in the media.  We need to explore what Evangelism truly means.  That is what we started to explore in the first of the Marks.  What does it mean to share the Good News?  How can we share the Good News in our lives with others?  First we have to know what the Good News is for each of us. 

I have attached the two pages from the workbook that explores this. 

Blessings on your journey.

Who's the Samaritan in Your Life

Sermon August 25, 2013

13th Sunday after Trinity - Luke 10: 25

The parable of the Good Samaritan is certainly one of those well-known passages from the bible - know well by people of our generation anyway.  The danger with a well-known passage such as this is twofold (if not more).  First when we are listening to it being read, we are likely to not pay attention.  We will think, Oh yes – the Good Samaritan – that’s a nice story – I’ve have heard it so many times that I certainly know this story.”  And so the listener doesn’t listen and if you don’t listen – you don’t hear what God is telling you.  Well, that the first danger – the one you have to pay attention to.

The second danger is for the preacher.  The congregation listening to the Gospel may say to him or herself after she has stopped listening, ‘I’ve heard quite a few sermons on the Good Samaritan.  I wonder if this preacher will say anything new or will it be the same thing I’ve heard before?”  That’s the danger for me.  Will I be able to say something that will reveal a new perspective on this word of God? Or will it be the same old – same old. 

As the hymn says, it is an old, old story of Jesus, of Jesus and his love –  a story that he is telling us.  One of the principles of the Gospel is that it should surprise us every time we read the Gospel.  If we read it with fresh eyes and listen with fresh ears it should surprise us because we will be different people from the last time we read it and hearing the Word of God should change us.  So I am going to read it again and see if you can hear it again for the first time…..

Was there anything that surprised you when you heard it this time?  Was there anything that you hadn’t heard before?  Well, one of the things that I became aware of when I read it a few days ago to begin to write my sermon is that it is really in three parts – three acts.  The first act sets the scene.  We have the person coming to Jesus to ask him as question.  The second act is meat of the passage – the parable that Jesus tells to make his point to those who are listening.  The third act is the climax – the message – the truth that Jesus want us – the listener to hear and inwardly digest.

In act one the thing that stands out in this reading is that the person who approaches Jesus is a lawyer.  Now, if it weren’t for this passage I wouldn’t have thought that there were lawyers in Jesus day.   I would have thought that issues of law would have been handled by the priest and other religious people.  But here we have a lawyer asking Jesus – a rabbi – a teacher for his view on the law.  Jesus turns the question on the questioner - a good Socratic method and answers a question with a question – in this case a question of law.  Jesus takes the game to the lawyer’s home court.  And the lawyer answers in good lawyerly fashion – with a summary of the law.  Jesus – the good teacher affirms his student – applauds him and tells him that if he does what the law says- loves God and his neighbour he will live.  These are the two great commandments we recite at the beginning of the service.

All well and good.  It could have ended here.  But Jesus has engaged him and drawn the lawyer into his sphere.  The lawyer now asks the question Jesus intends him to ask, “Who is my neighbour?”  Jesus now has him fully engaged – just as we should be if we are listening.  Well, who is our neighbour?  Jesus draws the lawyer and us further into his realm by the cast of characters in the story.  Who are the players – the characters in the story? ….

Well we have the traveler – who is not identified – but we assume that he is a good Jew.  We have the priest and the Levite – good upright Jews and of course the Samaritan – the hero.  Who else?  Well let’s not forget the thieves (we don’t know how many of them there are – but more than one).  And finally – well we have the inn keeper. 

The scene is set by the traveler being preyed upon by the thieves.  Of course he is travelling in dangerous country.  The audience – the lawyer and others will automatically identify with the traveler.  He is a citizen who has to travel in dangerous country – probably a familiar experience for people in Jesus time – travelling was not a pleasant and safe undertaking like today – well perhaps like it used to be until recent times.  The listeners could all picture themselves in the traveler’s shoes.  The dramatic event happens – the traveler is robbed and left for dead – a dramatic but not a surprising turn in the story.  Now here comes the twist.  Two upstanding God-fearing holy people come along and pass by on the other side.  These are the associates of the listener – the lawyer – good upright Jews.  People like him.  He can imagine that very well happening – and he is probably filled with righteous anger.  What happens next?  Well our hero comes to the rescue.  But another twist to the story -the hero is a Samaritan - you can almost hear the intake of air as the lawyer gasps in surprise.  A Samaritan!  Shock and horror – a despised outsider – he’s the one who comes to the rescue of the good Jew.  The Samaritans who are almost as bad as Gentiles.  Perhaps even worse – they are the poor cousins to the Jews who did not worship at the temple and were basically part of a family feud that was long and deep.  There was no love lost between the children of Judah and the Children of Samaria. 

No love lost and yet this is the neighbour who showed mercy and love   - the example that the good Rabbi Jesus held up as a paragon of the law.  The question for us today is - who is the Samaritan in your life?  Who is the one who you as a good upright person hate to have come to your recue?  Who would you hate to have save your life?  Who would be the last person you would want to owe a debt so great that it could not be repaid?

That is the Samaritan in your life.  That is your neighbour.  That is the one who showed mercy to the good Jew.  That is the one Jesus - our Saviour and Redeemer tells us we must love if we are to receive eternal life.  Amen.