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Daily Scripture

+ 3rd Week in Lent

Integrity demands honesty and yields forgiveness.

Readings: Hosea 14:2-10 Psalm 81:6-11, 14, 17 Mark 12:28-34

Thus says the Lord: Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God; Say to God, “Forgive all iniquity, and receive what is good, hat we may render as offering the bullocks from our stalls.” [Hosea 14:1, 3]

One of the scribes and asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear O Israel! The Lord our god is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The scribe said to him, “Well said…, there is no greater commandment greater than these. [They] are worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifice. [Mark 12:28-33]

“I’m sorry if I have offended you,” or words similar to these are what I would call a shallow political apology; empty words without substance. The offender is distancing him/herself from the offense. There is a hidden question in the apology, e.g., ‘why are you offended… ‘ worse, ‘I am sorry that you took offense’ putting the burden on the other person to apologize for being offended. Yipes!

A personal or institutional apology is an admission of wrongdoing and can be used for fodder in an indictment and subsequent trial so attorneys are very careful to caution their clients against any admission of guilt that could be used against them in court.

Sadly even our Church has masterfully avoided admission of wrongdoing in multi-million dollar settlements with those who were abused by priests and religious. Spokespersons for church, political or commercial institutions are careful to point out that such a settlement “is not an admission of guilt or wrongdoing and is actually a compromise of a disputed claim.” More ‘yipes!’

Lent is a time to confess our wrongdoing, personal and institutional, hands down! In the words of the psalmist, “my sins are before me always.” [Ps 51] But the Lord is our refuge and our strength. “Let the wise understand and speak these words without equivocation or prevarication.

Integrity has its rewards in this life and in the next.

All about politics... a respone

Tuesday May 13, 2008

Just so my subscribers know that I am not above and beyond critique or criticism, I am posting a response to my previous posting entitled “Er, ahem, it’s all about politics… isn’t it?” [Cf. Notes, Quotes & Comments website link]. The subscriber makes a fair point!

To the Editor:

Oh, there’s such a better way than these two on the subject of race in America

Obama does it far better, just to choose one.

Black men of the cloth need only look at Nelson Mandela and his utterly radical forgiveness. It turned a nation around, away from retribution and hate speech, and snatched it from the jaws of civil war. No Nurenburg here, just a Truth and Reconciliation Commission where sin was confessed and forgiven but not forgotten (I wonder where this practicing Christian man got this idea??) Still not an ideal nation, riddled as it is with problems, but racial attitudes are on such a better glide path.

Unlike South Africa, in our nation the decision to turn around was made about two generations ago, all we need do is nurture it with some degree of tolerance. Assaulted by Wright, white onlookers of good faith wonder what’s been happening these last 45 years as the nation threw its treasure at a problem that happened long before they were born, embarked aggressively on affirmative action, and still strives to rid itself of the hangovers from our own personal apartheids.

The Rev. Wright chooses not to use the past as a positive mechanism for racial healing, but rather seems to wallow in it or perhaps even use it as a weapon. Spong is obviously sympathetic and seeks to explain, quite unsuccessfully, by claiming “out of context” as if it were true, the reluctance of whites to acknowledge white sin, and then raises the inevitable straw man (“Someone, seeking to destroy America’s first viable African American candidate, had linked him to the historic anger of the black Church… racial fear is still live and well in America.”)

Huh?

Pretty weak “someone!” And pretty tame “fear” as Obama gains traction regardless of whether he may win the nomination!

Two men of the cloth (three really with Bill Moyers) and not a word about the power of forgiveness! Strange how the black clergy tends to rally around Wright while the black community doesn’t seem to want to go there. Maybe this is indeed the time for some Christian soul-searching, so we can get to another level.

The truth is that few people of good faith in America really care that a woman and a black man are running for its highest office—-don’t get me wrong, they think it’s a wonderful and positive sign, but they’re simply not going to vote for one or the other for that sole reason. It is NOT racist to question Obama’s experience or judgment or his links to others, or even the extent to which he may share “the historic anger of the black Church.” We need to know him! We already know his female opponent, perhaps too well.

Disclosure: I have no intention of voting for Obama if he wins the nomination. But if he wins the presidency, I’m quite comfortable with his obvious intelligence, and trust that he will act on the data and seek to do the right thing.

Editor’s Note:

There is no doubt in my mind that forgiveness is the ultimate goal for victims of discrimination and their descendents and Christ remains the model and exemplar for Christians though, to be sure, Mohandas Gandhi also was a strong advocate of forgiveness. It is to be sure the refined sense of prophetic vision to which Martin Luther King called all Americans. As ‘on target’ as the subscriber’s observations, many are still in the process of conversion to this refined position. Nevertheless, he is wise to remind us that our destiny is truth, justice, reconciliation and peace. Forgiveness is the conclusion of a long process. My mantra remains a version of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission referred to above: “No healing and forgiveness without justice; no justice without truth; no truth without full accountability.” The justice to which I refer is called ‘restorative justice’ and takes place with the offender acknowledges his or her failure and says, “I’m sorry.”