Editor's Note: Fr. Doug Taylor-Weiss wrote the following for his weblog, "Lend Me Your Ears," which he describes this way:
"This blog is for the visitors and members of the Church of Saints Peter and John, Auburn, New York. The Rector, Fr. Doug Taylor-Weiss, posts comments about his most recent sermon and hearers post comments to create an ongoing sermon discussion."
Here's a recent post:
Don't Be Humble
Humility is like the number zero. For centuries, humanity got along swimmingly without it. There were all kinds of heroic virtues—courage, loyalty, piety and the like—without the need for anything like humility. Then, at the coming of Christ into the world, a brand new virtue, a kind of un-virtue, was born. A man humiliated on a cross, mocked as “King of the Jews” was raised from the dead. “Blessed are the meek,” this man had said, “for they shall inherit the earth.” What a fool! Right? You’d think so. Many people still think so. But God raised him from the dead. He’s not a fool anymore.
After humility was born, it swiftly rose to the top of the list of virtues. While theology carefully added Faith, Hope and Love to the classical virtues of Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude and Justice, it was humility, the opposite of the chief sin of pride, that became the virtue behind the virtues, the condition allowing the other virtues to flourish.
Yet, like the number zero, humility occupied a unique place. One can work on other virtues, and work with them. Refusing to shy away from danger can build fortitude; study and prayer can improve justice; love, hope and faith can grow by God’s grace. But trying to build up humility is like trying to divide by zero. It messes everything up.
To take notice of one’s humility is to lose it immediately. That’s because Christian humility is a kind of self-forgetfulness, both quiet and joyful. Laughing at a boor’s off-color joke is humble; lowering one’s eyes and turning away is false humility and therefore pride. Allowing strangers to fuss over you when you’ve slipped on the ice is humble; shooing them away with, “Oh, no. Pay no attention to me; I’m not important,” is prideful. The humble person loves life more than self. True, the Bible finds idolatry to be the worst sin. But Christian history discovered that after the rival gods were banished, the most insidious pretender to God’s glory was the anti-Trinity: Me, Myself and I.
Here in the Diocese of Central New York, we’ve been asked to participate in a survey to help the diocese with its Strategic Change Process. The Discovery phase of this business calls on parishes to involve every single member in answering questions about our “best experiences” in church. The idea seems to be that the long list of best experiences and of the “values” that go with them will reveal our strengths and, thus, the places where we ought to build supportive diocesan structures.
I want to center on one of the “values” questions asked in order to get a grasp of the whole. We are asked to consider our “VALUES: What are the things you value most deeply; specifically, the things you value about yourself, your work, and your ministry.” Note who’s front and center here: YOU! There’s not a hint of the lurking danger of idolatry, no reminder that what “I” value might be something that I ought not to value. There’s no suggestion that God has told us what to value (“Seek ye first the kingdom of God”) and that we are called to listen and obey. There’s only the cheery assumption that “my” values can give direction to the Church of Jesus Christ. Then comes the most revealing question of all.
Under “Values” are three sub-questions, a, b & c. “(a) YOURSELF: Without being humble, what do you value most about yourself—as a human being, a friend, a member of the community, etc.”
Could there be a more unchristian question than this? Not only does it directly order us to abandon the prime Christian virtue, the virtue underpinning Christ’s call to take up our cross and follow him, it assumes that humility is merely a mask, a Christiany pretense that can be removed when we really want to get serious. What if someone answering these questions truly “valued” humility as one might suppose a Christian would? Presumably he or she would be put in the position of violating that very value in order to truthfully answer the question: “I value my deep humility—as a human being, a friend, a member of the community, etc.” The very exercise of having to drop humility in order to talk about “my” values forces the interviewee not to value those things in us that God values most, namely, that self-forgetful heart that simply lays down its life for others known as Love, that unselfconscious delight in God’s faithfulness known as Faith, and the self-denying confidence in a future given by God known as Hope. All these receive their electric charge through humility by which they are transformed from opinions into truths and thence into virtues.
Like zero, however, humility itself has no value. It is, rather, an emptying out of value. No wonder humility has to be set aside in our diocesan questionnaire in order for us to register “my values.” Humility simply loses interest in what is “mine” and what is “yours” in favor of what is “ours in Christ,” namely, “Our Father, who art in heaven.” “Your life is hidden with Christ in God,” St. Paul writes to the Colossians (3:3). “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who . . . made himself nothing,” he tells the Philippians (2:5-7), and “What we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord,” is his watchword for the Corinthians (2 Cor. 4:5).
I guess we’re all supposed to be so sophisticated and beyond taking the Bible “literally” that none of us is shocked to see our bishop officially instructing all his diocese to stop being humble so that we can get on with the important project of (here’s a quote from the survey) “providing . . . the foundation upon which to build our future together.” The three theological virtues mentioned earlier are not likely to survive an attack on humility. Here, Hope is the first to crumble. The future is no longer the gift of God we receive confident in his power to save. It is now something we build. It’s our future.
Even more, it’s “mine.” As the final question asks, “If you could have three wishes for ministry in this Diocese, what would they be?” Not once in the entire questionnaire are we asked about God’s word to us. Nowhere do we listen for God’s “wishes” in his Word. The bishop, in promoting this with the clergy, made a few vague references to our expectation that the Holy Spirit would somehow help to produce the result. Maybe we could add that as one of our three wishes: I wish that the Holy Spirit would agree with what I decide I’m good at and with the future I want to build for myself. We would then have the perfect reversal of our Lord’s humiliating passion: “Not thy will, but mine be done.”
I am established by now as a regular diocesan crank. I object to the bishop’s attack on classic Christian sexual morality and I don’t cooperate with much diocesan programming. I don’t want to be a crank, however. I want to be constructive. So I offer some alternative questions which I invite my congregation and any others reading this blog to answer. You may answer in the comments sections or submit your answers directly to the diocese.
Here are the four questions. If you want to comment on this article, comment here. But if you want to answer one of the four substitute questions, go to the next four blog articles.
Substitute Question #1: Our Best Experience. The single most important thing that YOUR CONGREGATION contributes to your life is eternal life received through the true preaching and hearing of God’s Word and the faithful administration and reception of Christ’s Sacraments. How has that gift of eternal life changed your life? How has your thinking been changed? How has your behavior changed? How have your emotions changed?
Substitute Question #2: VALUES. Christ calls us to seek “the pearl of great price,” the Kingdom of God, and to value that above all else. What do you find most challenging about giving your life over to Christ’s kingdom? How has belonging to your congregation helped you to meet that challenge?
Substitute Question #3: CORE VALUE/POSITIVE CORE. Regular weekly worship is the core of your congregation. In what ways is your congregation most successful in letting the worship service empower and sustain the ministry performed outside of worship? How are those other ministries taken up into the worship of your congregation? (Remember, the congregation’s ministries are not just the organized, official ones, but the work done every day in Christ’s Name by all the baptized.)
Substitute Question #4: If the return of Jesus Christ in glory to judge the living and the dead is delayed still longer, what will this diocese need in order to remain ready for his coming?
posted by Father Doug @ 2:43 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment