Small word; large meaning

There is a little word that gets used a lot in church circles.  We say it in penitence; we hear it in absolution. We recite it in the ancient creeds; we pray it in various collects.  For a little word, it has many definitions.  It’s also highly corruptible and people try to bend it to their will.  If you haven’t already guessed it, the word is “true”.

We use the word a great deal as an adjective:  “True repentance,” “true God,” “all that is true.”  As an adjective, true can mean:

• ·        consistent with fact or reality,
• ·        real, genuine,
• ·        reliable,
• ·        faithful or loyal, or
• ·        unfeigned, sincere.

These are the definitions one usually attributes to the word “true” when we think about it in a religious context. 

Of course, some religious factions would tend to the use of the word as referring to:

• ·        essential or fundamental,
• ·        rightful or legitimate, and
• ·        exactly forming to a rule or pattern.

And then there are the usages that point more to engineering:

• ·        accurately shaped, fitted, placed, or delivered
• ·        quick and exact in sensing and responding

When I read the collect for today out loud, the words “true religion” smacked my consciousness.  Boy oh boy – that is one loaded phrase. 

Doesn’t every religion want to be the “true” one?  I admit to perpetuating that desire whenever I refer to someone who has converted to the Episcopal Church as one who has found “The One True Faith!”  And, yes, I am being facetious when I do so.

So, what did we really just pray God to do for us?  The other petitions aren’t so controversial: graft in our hearts the love of your name, nourish us with all goodness, bring forth in us the fruit of good works.  It’s just that ‘increase in us true religion’ part that makes me ponder.

That’s when I realized that the definitions of true that would normally be connected to a religious context don’t work as well as the ones that point to engineering.  True religion should be shaped, fitted, placed, or delivered to its context and be quick and exact in sensing and responding.  But, the context – that’s the interesting part.

A colleague of mine reminded me that when you drop a plumb line, a means of finding a true and straight line, that line is only true for you and where you are standing.  Gravity is what pulls the plumb line true.  So, someone who is in Columbus, Ohio, can drop a plumb line but it will not be the same line as someone who drops a plumb line in San Diego, California.  Both people will get a straight line from their perspective, but if you change the vantage point, something amazing occurs.  Plumb lines are at different angles when observed from a global point of view.  What’s true is not the line itself, but the gravitational pull to the center.

As Christians, we need to focus on who is pulling us to our center: Jesus.  To have true religion increased in us, we must allow Jesus and his message to shape, fit, place, and deliver his truth within our context – our world, our country, our communities, our work, our schools, our homes. In doing that, we live out the faith we profess in a real, genuine, and sincere manner.

Paul’s letter to the church in Rome is a blueprint for how to accomplish this.  When we read the epistle, we are confronted with the fact that to be a Christian means seeing our context from a different point of view.  We are to love one another, to outdo each other in showing honor, to rejoice in hope and extend hospitality to people we do not know.

This is completely counter to the “religion of fear and scarcity” that blares at us from our televisions and radios and 24-hour faux news stations.  And, no, I’m not singling out a certain conservative network when I say “faux”.  No one is reporting news in any medium because no one is reporting without a spin factor. 

 
Every story, every article, has had its plumb line of truth draped over some object that skews it away from what is essential or fundamental. And, every agency wants us to drink their brand of kool-aid.  Therefore, for any of us to really know what’s going on, we have to spend hours sifting through stories and court reports on our own.  Because none of us really has time to do that, we settle on whatever makes sense to us from our limited world view.  It’s no wonder that the world is decidedly “out of true”.

The cure for this is for us to respond completely counter culture.  We cannot fix all of this mess. It’s too complicated and the systems are so entrenched it’s going to take years and require the gifts of reconciliation that only a small number of people on this planet possess.  What we can do is pay attention to the plumb line given to us by Jesus and center ourselves in a context of reconciliation. 

Instead of complaining about or cursing politicians, pray for them.  Instead of making excuses for or taking sides in the events in towns in Missouri or Florida or Illinois, weep with the families who have lost their loved ones and with those whose lives have been forever changed because of their actions. 

 
Seek the image of God in the people of Gaza and Israel and Iraq and Syria and everywhere else for that matter. Extend hospitality to strangers by contributing to Episcopal Relief and Development or another world relief organization.  Associate with the lowly as an equal by serving food to a homeless person and then striking up a conversation with him or her.

We must constantly guard against responding quickly and exactly from a perspective of revenge and hatred. This is a stumbling block not only to our own souls but to the souls of others.  Instead, we must respond in love, in prayer, and with affection.  The evil in this world cannot stand up to the love of God.  So, keep your mind centered on those things that are of God and of the love that will eventually overcome all that evil can throw at it. 

And, for heaven’s sake – and yours, watch and read about the events of the day with a mind on the divine perspective.  You’ll stay saner. Trust me.