O Lord, I love the house in which you dwell,
and the place where your glory abides.
Do not sweep me away with sinners,
nor my life with the bloodthirsty,
those in whose hands are evil devices,
and whose right hands are full of bribes.
But as for me, I walk in my integrity;
redeem me, and be gracious to me.
My foot stands on level ground;
in the great congregation I will bless the Lord. Psalm 26: 8-12
and the place where your glory abides.
Do not sweep me away with sinners,
nor my life with the bloodthirsty,
those in whose hands are evil devices,
and whose right hands are full of bribes.
But as for me, I walk in my integrity;
redeem me, and be gracious to me.
My foot stands on level ground;
in the great congregation I will bless the Lord. Psalm 26: 8-12
My dad has been on my mind a bunch lately. He has been very ill and his prognosis for recovery is not very good. Currently, he seems to be doing OK, however, the docs have told him that there are no more reasonably survivable corrective procedures for his conditions. Well, we've known this has been coming and we've been preparing for these days, weeks, months, however long we have to share life together. My dad has always been a source of strength for me, because no matter what falls his direction he has been able to face it with integrity. He is one of the few real people you meet in this world. Honest and sincere without worry of how the world judges him with all the arbitrary categories humanity has constructed, he lives what he says he believes. He is trustworthy and trusting, even at the expense of loss when trust has not always reciprocated. I am most fortunate to have his nurturing guidance and life examples as sources for becoming the kind of person I have always hoped I will be.
Browsing the Revised Common Lectionary for this Sunday, Oct. 4th, I noticed that one of the themes running throughout the appointed texts is integrity, one of my favorite topics and certainly one of my core values as a person of faith. Integrity is the product of living a completely honest life, honest with ourselves and with everybody else. What I mean by this is simply not being hypocritical or from the word's origins: not ACTING ones core values, beliefs, etc. That, of course, is different from putting one's values and beliefs into ACTION. Putting our beliefs and values into action produces integrity. Saying we are one type of person to the world and being somebody else in the world is the opposite of integrity. And, this I believe to be true in ALL levels of relationships. Not being honest with ourselves or with others produces infidelity in our relationships - distrust - and that is just as true in our business dealings and co-worker relationships as it is in committed relationships such as marriage. Infidelity is too often reduced to the sexual monogamy of a marriage relationship, when in fact it is much more about dishonesty in any relationship than it is about sexuality.
The disciples asked Jesus about the legitimacy of divorce in Mark 10, and being faithful to his Jewish tradition Jesus answered with warnings of adultery, which of course, has nothing to do with breaking another's heart by cheating on one's spouse. Adultery, Biblically speaking, was mainly about stealing another person's property, trespassing on turf that belonged to another - marriage was not built on love and romance - it was for survival and societal organization, which of course was designed for and by heterosexual males. Today, we use the language of mutually satisfying relationships built on love, commitment, honesty and open communication whenever we talk about healthy committed relationships. These are the same terms we use whenever we talk about an intimate or close relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and thus with the Almighty God. Jesus may have broken with tradition when he challenged the double standards of adultery in his time and ours too!
The point of this, for me, is that just as God hopes for integrity in all of our human relationships, God hopes for the same integrity in our relationship with God. Whenever we say that God loves everyone, indeed everything that God has created and that God demands us to love as we are loved - then we cannot distribute our love based on some arbitrary decision on our part. God in Christ says yes, even those we name as enemies - and that has major implications for us! To be honest in our relationship with God means that we cannot decide to destroy our enemies, even when they have caused us harm. I know that's difficult if not downright impossible for most of us and that's why we have sin in the world and grace enough to redeem us. Redemption does not mean that we just run and do the same ole thing over and over and come back for more free grace. Redemption means that we are healed from the hurts that cause us to hate another enough to decide to destroy them in the first place. We are healed by the realization that God's love is bigger than our own sin, our own dishonesty with ourselves, our own failures in relationships, our own infidelity.
Integrity means for me that I cannot lie, mislead, coerce or cheat another to make a social gain or financial profit for myself. Integrity means that I cannot horde resources for myself while others suffer without enough to survive. Integrity means that I must act against hatred, discrimination, dehumanization, and injustice of any kind. Integrity means that I am willing to give of myself even when I don't feel like I have an abundance from which to share. Integrity means that I am willing to risk my own vulnerability by trusting others even when I know they may become my enemies. Integrity means that I am honest with myself.
