The School of the Small

Apr 032011

His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. Matthew 25:21 (ESV)

And the King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. Matthew 25:40 (ESV)

Recently I read an article in the New York Times (also here and here) about Gandhi and how he wasn’t quite as saintly as he has been made to appear. He treated a great-niece horribly and had all kinds of moral failures. Not that I am perfect or even better than he was, but it made me ask some new questions.

If you do great things, does it matter if you are impossible to live with? If you win great prizes but cheat on your wife, does God care? From the verses above, I would say that God does care about those little things. Even if you do great things for God but don’t take care of the little things, God is not impressed. It seems that God wants us to be faithful in the minutiae before we go on to great things. God’s work is the tiny grindings (my brakes have been giving me trouble recently).

Is God OCD? Is God more concerned about the great-niece than the swarming masses who need justice? Do we limit the effectiveness of great men by requiring moral stability before action? Where is the grace of God in all of this?

I work for an Amish crew who install tile. Other crews in the company do trim work. Their work is meticulous and they do it impeccably. It is the small things: making sure the floor is level, your lines are straight, your measurements are accurate that determine how a large job looks when finished. It is the prep, the execution, the questioning, the constant re-evaluation that yields a superior product.

I wonder if the same is true of our Christian life. Other people will take shortcuts in doing the job of social change. The Christian is called to be meticulous, exacting, honest, integral. It takes longer to develop character, to learn to act in love and forgiveness than to slap together a social program. Yet in the end, the Christian’s work smells of integrity, quality, agape. We could finish our job quickly, do the work without thought. But our work will not last, it will fade and crumble. To build for eternity, we must be diligent in the small things.

I think, though, that we need to be careful about this type of thinking. It can lead to a morbid sense of worthlessness, a paralysis of the soul. We can spend all of our time thinking about how we are not worthy or capable of doing the work in the best way possible. We end up not doing it because we are afraid of getting it wrong. We must have the courage to try, and fail.

Creatures of God

Jan 042011

Each of us has an individual greatness. God would not be our author if we were something worthless. You and I and all of us are worth very much, because we are creatures of God, and God has prodigally given his wonderful gifts to every person. And so the church values human beings and contends for their rights, for their freedom, for their dignity. That is an authentic church endeavor. While human rights are violated, while there are arbitrary arrests, while there are tortures, the church considers itself persecuted, it feels troubled, because the church values human beings and cannot tolerate that an image of God be trampled by persons that become brutalized by trampling on others. The church wants to make that image beautiful.

The Violence of Love, Oscar Romero

Creatures of God

Dec 012010

A humble person is one who, like the humble Mary, says, “The Powerful One has done great things in me.” Each of us has an individual greatness. God would not be our author if we were something worthless. You and I and all of us are worth very much, because we are creatures of God, and God has prodigally given his wonderful gifts to every person. And so the church values human beings and contends for their rights, for their freedom, for their dignity. That is an authentic church endeavor. While human rights are violated, while there are arbitrary arrests, while there are tortures, the church considers itself persecuted, it feels troubled, because the church values human beings and cannot tolerate that an image of God be trampled by persons that become brutalized by trampling on others. The church wants to make that image beautiful.

Oscar Romero, The Violence of Love

Abortion in Ohio

Nov 012010

Cleveland.com is reporting that abortions in Ohio are at an all-time low. In fact the number has been steadily dropping since 2000. As a pro-lifer, I find this at least on the surface encouraging. There are fewer children being lost in abortion. Although both sides of the argument present reasons for the drop, there is very little information in the article to explain the cause of this drop. Some possible causes that I can think of:

  1. Less unprotected sex – where pregnancy is not desired, there is more use of contraceptives.
  2. More abstinence – at risk groups are less likely to engage in sexual behaviours that result in pregnancy.
  3. More live births – mothers are deciding to keep their children or put them up for adoption.

Although some of the reasons may be less than ideal, I am hopeful with the results.

Go to the Ohio Department of Health for more information. The report can be read in its entirety and it provides some interesting statistics that may help inform us on how to better serve those women who find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy.

Repost: For Richer or Poorer

Nov 301999

Yahoo Finance has an interesting article that shows what my dad has said for years: the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer. Actually, Robert Merton coined the term the Matthew principle in 1968 with reference to this phrase. The problem, as I see it, is corporate greed and the individual greed that fuels it. Foreign workers are not the problem; it is the companies that are willing to exploit them.

The disparity of the rich and the poor will continue to become more marked. It will eventually fuel discontent. As one of my favorite bands, Adam Again, said years ago in their song Tree House that there is a tree house in the sky where the strong rule and they pulled up the ladder and children are left out of the tree house. "Someone throw the ladder down". We need some sort of reform or transformation to help those in power see their need to share the wealth in radical ways. I appreciate the Buffet and Gates” challenge to the super rich. But we need more than challenges, we need change.

Overall, my concern isn”t for the middle class of America. We are still the richest in the world. My concern is for the third world and the desperately poor. They will rise in judgment on the last day on our culture of luxury. But since we have the majority of the super rich in our country and the majority of the corporate gods, we have to work for reform in our country. We are the closest to the super rich and we have the vote to bring some change. We also can pray and enter into the battle for the hearts of the super rich.

Enough ranting for now…

Repost: Compassion vs. Consumption

Nov 301999

Jon Foreman: Compassion vs. Consumption Jon Foreman of Switchfoot fame writes an interesting article over at the Huffington Post. He basic point: we need to evaluate why we buy in our consumer society and redefine our ideas about wealth. Its a well written article that is intimate and thoughtful.

Repost: Vegetative Patients Can Think!

Nov 301999

Patients in ”vegetative” state can think and communicate – Telegraph

A very profound article that has lots of implications to the issues of life and death in patients in a persistent vegetative state. For me, it reminds me to never assume that a patient cannot hear or understand you. Even when a patient is unresponsive, treat them as if they are there and respect them as humans.