There is a word that’s been dogging my trail for several weeks.
Just one word. But it’s a big word. Huge. (That's not the word).
We are on the tail-end
of the presidential elections. Lines are being drawn, distinctions pointed out,
strategies formulated, priorities enumerated, and debates enjoined. The point
of it all, presumably, is for the people of this country to make a choice as to
who will take it forward.
There are accusations,
allegations, confrontations, alignments, categorizations. The two camps dig for
dirt and throw it in ever-increasing amounts, even if they put a soft spin on
it so they don’t come across too harsh.
In the pursuit of
this, mucho dollars have been donated to one or the other candidate’s campaign.
According to The New York Times, President Obama has raised $687M(illion) and
Mr Romney $633M (http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/campaign-finance). That’s over $1.3B(illion) between the two by
mid-October. It remains to be seen what the final tally will be, but some
estimate it at $2B.
Consider this:
what does that all speak to? Perhaps the fact that the race is not to the swift
or the diligent, but to the biggest fund-raiser, or even the better debater.
Wow.
So that while the
posturing and pretense play on, and the money changes hands, the real-life
world of reality continues to elude us as we become voters, and fall-in with
all the other sheep that want to think we actually influence the running of the
great USofA. Maybe.
(I questioned myself on the wisdom of leaving this
paragraph here, knowing the ire it could inspire. It’s here.)
And the peons
(think pee-ons) like us are struggling to define ourselves in the definitions
we see on the tele, the media houses driving our ache to be defined as
Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, ass or jackass.
And then we have
the ol’ reliable church, just the place to be told (advised, if you will) who
you should vote for, and who you should not vote for. I have heard it said that
if you vote for a particular candidate you can’t be a Christian … really? …
wow… really??
The other issue
that comes to mind in the pursuit of the word that’s been hounding me is abuse.
A child suffers sexual abuse at the hands of some family member or guardian or
babysitter or whoever, and the abuse is virtually ingrained and haunts their
marriage, their relations with the children, etc.
Worse yet, far,
far worse, in my estimation, is abuse at the hands of a ‘pastor’ or other
church leader. A man, charged by God with the tender care of His sheep, twists
his authority and uses his power to undermine the very humanity of a child and
the very goodness of God. Wickedness of the first order. It occurs to me that the anger and sense of
retribution Jesus felt and expressed to the religious leadership of his day is
nothing compared to what will befall those who abuse under the sign of the
cross.
It takes
significant effort and willpower, along with tremendous support, often
including professional help, for these people to move on in their humanity
dragging such a load; that’s if they ever allow themselves to confess it to
themselves or, more significantly, to anyone else. That person is damaged,
injured, hobbled - and this at the very core of their being. Virtually every relationship
they are involved in is burdened by this baggage.
My example is
Jesus, or so I claim. The upshot of that is my thinking, my belief-system, my
speech, my actions, my affiliations, my ‘career’, my .. whatever, need to
reflect that. Ya? In as much as they don’t speak to that I am being
disingenuous.
Integrity (ah! the
word!) has to do with a state of being whole, sound or complete; a state of
being true to the core principles, adherent to a certain code of values,
whatever they may be. Think ‘fullness’, ‘soundness’, ‘sincerity’, 'genuine' and the like. The
Hebrew word ‘shalom’ speaks to this. Research it.
In the raw that
means being true to myself.
When we allow our
principles to be eroded and defrauded for whatever reason (even
self-preservation), we defile our integrity. When we allow the principles of
any group or body to which we belong to be likewise compromised without objecting,
we defile our integrity, and that of the group. The ‘truth’ is we are untrue to
ourselves - and there is possibly no greater lie.
How do we look the
person in the mirror eye-to-eye when that person is faced with another face, a
face not our own? We lie.
To walk into our
world every day and face people with that other face is tantamount to outright
deception, for we exhibit someone we are not - not really anyway. And that’s a
lie.
So that when we
pretend we are married, when in fact the marriage is dead, we lie, regardless
of the legality of it. When we go along with a doctrine or practice in the
‘church’ for the sake of bandwagoning, going-along and not causing ripples or
earthquakes or whatever while we are convinced that Scripture teaches
otherwise, we lie, for if what we do is not done in faith, it’s a lie. When we
vote for this one or that one because there is pressure on us to vote that way
and not because that’s the vote we feel within ourselves needs to be cast, we
lie.
When we try to
convince ourselves that we are ‘ok’ with the lie, the façade, we lie to
ourselves.
Integrity is
everything. If the world decides to walk a road that goes against the
principles I uphold as a person, or the values I esteem as a follower of Jesus,
I should be looking for a different pair of shoes, taking a different trail, even
if I walk alone.
Integrity is
everything. It smells like being true to who you are, being real. The same
person I am today at work should be the same person I am tonight at the party,
or tomorrow at church, or in my home among my family. Same person wherever and
whenever you meet me. I knew someone like that once, and his memory floods my soul.
Jesus was defined
by his divine humanity. What defines you and I? Is it the people we hang with,
the clique, the morning coffee group, the church we ‘go to’, the political
label? Insomuch as I am
defined by Jesus, aspire to his calling, his teaching, his example .. there I
am real.
I concern myself a little with the politics, a little. I more concern
myself with being a Jesus-example to the ones I meet, helping the hurting, loving
my neighbor as I love myself, doing to the ‘other’ as I want people to do to me;
with breaking down the walls that separate me from my human neighbours – walls of
prejudice towards colour, walls of class, walls of wealth, walls of education, walls
of nationality, walls of denomination, walls walls walls … I am not often successful in this, but I'm trying.
When I learn to
disconnect with the Earthly ‘issues’, to reconnect with the Heavenly priorities,
to put wealth and career and power-plays and politics on the back burner, and
to move the kingdom pot to the front burner, then I am moving Kingdomward and
becoming the Jesus-person I aspire to be, and in that I confirm my integrity.
Integrity is
everything.
When you (I) vote,
vote with Jesus in mind. When you (I) speak, speak with Jesus in mind. When you
work … , when you think … , when you give … , when you look in the mirror… … … …
Anything else is a
lie.
shalom
