A Lying Tongue

If you ask almost anyone to list the things that they hate, 'liars' will inevitably be near the top. A funny thing, since every single one of us has lied, and continue to lie at times. Not always about big things, but often in small ways that involve both actual words that come from our mouths, or actions that we take or do not take. We do it in ways that we ourselves might not define as a 'lie' but that others most certainly would. You see, most of us equate a lie with intent. As long as we did not actually intend to mislead someone maliciously then it wasn't really lying. Maybe a 'mistake', or an 'exaggeration', or we were being 'nice' to someone by not hurting their feelings in telling them the cold, hard truth. Perhaps we were simply balancing two bad outcomes and deciding that by telling a 'little white lie' (in our minds) we would spare ourselves and possibly others a worse outcome than would occur by telling the truth. Lying does not in actuality go to 'intent', instead being defined as an untrue or inaccurate statement that may or may not be believed true by the speaker. Call it whatever you want, defend it however you want - we are all liars. It is probably one of the reasons that we hate liars so much. When we tell a lie ourselves we understand what we are doing at our very core. That guilt feeling is hard-wired into us as a part of our humanity. Some sense those feelings of guilt more than others. There are some who take their lies very much to heart and truly hate them. These people are often making sincere apologies and trying to stay away from occassions where they are put in compromising positions that might have called for them to lie in the past. There are others who lie with impugnity, who seem to tell lies almost as well and as often as they breathe. These are the people to whom the old joke was directed: "How do you know that she is lying? Her lips are moving." Many of these people lie even to themselves, simply refusing to examine their lives and face the truth. We hate when we catch someone in a lie, and that is especially true the closer that person is to us in relationship. From the small to the large lies, no one likes to feel deceived by the very people on whom they are counting the most. Have you ever told your parents that you were going one place, one that they would likely approve of, when you knew that you were actually going to another place, one that they would likely disapprove? How about your spouse in the same question? Have you ever told your boss that you were working hard on some project that you had not even started, or had pushed to the side to pay closer attention to something that was of more interest to you? Have you ever taken or accepted credit for something that you did not do yourself, or that you had little hand in creating? Have you ever cheated on your spouse or significant other? Ever cheated on a test or on your taxes? All are lies in and of themselves which often require further and further lying in order to cover them up. Like everyone else, I have lied during the course of my life so many times that it would be impossible to count or list them all. But I do remember most of my worst lies. They often created situations, or were created by situations, that led me to some of the worst episodes in what has been an overall happy, fulfilled life. That is the 'lie' of the lie. We think that things will turn out better if we lie when in actuality the lie only makes the situation worse. If we all truly examine our lives with honesty we will find that despite the fact that we all hate liars, we are all liars ourselves, at least in the idea that we have told lies at times and will do so again under what we consider appropriate circumstances. As Proverbs 6:17 tells us, God hates liars as well. The first lie that we know of occurs in the garden of Eden, and is told by the greatest liar of all. Satan comes to Eve in the garden and asks if God has told she and Adam not to eat from any of the trees there. Eve replies that God has only told them to not eat from a certain tree, that they should not eat from or even touch this tree, lest they die. Satan then tells that first lie, assuring Eve that "Surely you will not die! For God knows that in the day that you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." As with many lies, the evil one couches his lie with a piece of truth. By eating from the tree, Eve and subsequently Adam do indeed have their eyes opened and learn good and evil. But they learn it by it's very manifestation in their disobedience to God, in their listening to the deception of the snake. God had created Adam in His own likeness, had given him Eve as his companion, and had placed them in a beautiful, peaceful garden where He fellowshiped with them personally. Their disobedience to the one simple rule that He had layed down for them created the very evil that persists to this day. It is the cause of all of the lies that every one of us has ever told. God hates liars because He knows that in lying we are choosing ourselves and our will over His will. We are placing what we want above what He wants, and it is that very ego-driven decision that is at the heart of all the ills of humanity. Lies separate us from fellowship with God, and there is simply nothing that He wants more than that fellowship, that intimate relationship with each of us. If you are currently actively participating in a lying situation, you must end it and do all that you can to make ammends and ensure that it does not recur. We all need to examine, rebuke, rehabilitate, and try in the future to keep tamed our lying tongues. There is nothing that God hates more.

The Temple of You

We've all done it from time to time, taken a good, hard, long look in the mirror. That isn't meant to be rhetorical. I mean actually looked at our visage as it is reflected back to us, our physical appearance. The reactions to that visage spread out across a wide spectrum from "yeah, baby, I got it goin' on" to a panicked scream. People who don't like what they see have sometimes taken extreme measures to change their bodies, but this does not always change the reflection. Some of these include turning to an eating disorder such as anorexia and bulimia, even plastic surgeries that are not for some medical necessity. Some decide they just want to forget or push away the image. They turn to the bottle or to drugs. Some need constant reinforcement of their worth, and in doing so turn to numerous sexual partners in an effort to constantly stroke their egos. This isn't going to turn into one of those 'hell fire and brimstone' speeches against the evils of the flesh. God knows that I have fallen victim many a time in my own life. Taking control of some of these reactions to the reflection has taken me most of the 47 years that I have looked in the mirror. But maybe it would have all clicked in a bit sooner, and maybe I would have control of my weight and its related concerns, if I had the experience that I had a few days ago at an earlier point. In the past few days I have been re-exposed to an old, famous quotation, and had it more clearly expressed and explained, and I hope that this renewal finally changes my approach to this problem. We have all likely heard the old saying "Your body is your temple", but how many of us have really ever thought much about the meaning behind that saying? The saying comes directly from the Bible. From Saint Paul's first letter to the Corinthians comes this exhortation: "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." For each of the more than two billion Christians on the planet, the message should be clear, but it's amazing how little emphasis we place on these simple but vitally important ideas. We all know that the Holy Spirit of God Himself dwells inside of us. That our bodies have been "bought at a price" refers explicitly to Christ's selfless, sacrificial death on the cross so that our bodies and souls might be saved from death itself and eternal damnation. When we abuse or misuse our bodies with drugs, drink, food, mutilation, sex and other measures we are taking that gift of redemption, throwing it to the ground, and stomping on it. We are supposed to "honor God" with our bodies but we do just the opposite. This idea also goes directly to our treatment of the most innocent, those who depend entirely on us for both their perception of their bodies and the direct treatment of them. It goes to the children to whom we are responsible, from the unborn in the womb to the infants, toddlers, pre-teens and teenagers under our daily care. All of this responsibility goes directly to the struggle that takes place every single day in every single human life everywhere in the world. It is the struggle between good and evil that has taken place since Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, and since the snake known as Satan was set against our heels. Satan finds that weakness in each of us and tempts, distracts, suppresses, and amuses us all. For the vast majority of us the instrument that he uses against us is our very own body. Pope John Paul II, perhaps the greatest spiritual leader of our time, spoke directly to many of these issues in his 'Theology of Life' talks and his most famous encyclical 'Humanae Vitae', which is a must-read for every Catholic. There are many avenues we can take to begin overcoming our own personal demons, those things that cause us to turn our temple into a slum. But our efforts will be far more effective if they come within the context of a knowledge that when you fight for your body you are fighting a war against evil. It will not be an easy fight, and it will definitely be a life long fight. You will win some battles and lose some. The harder you fight against evil, the harder it will fight back. But ultimately you will always win, because God is on your side. You just have to be willing to believe in Him, receive Him into your life actively, and He will fight alongside of you. He will help you to put out that final cigarette, lose those fifty pounds, put down that bottle, end that affair, escape that sexual hedonism, accept a healthy body image. And as you win, He will help you to tear down the slum that your body has become. He will help you to work from the base that is already there and is always solid to finally build up the 'Temple of You'.

The Baptism of the Lord

NOTE: This entry is the continuation of the regular 'Sunday Sermon' series. You can read all of the articles in the series by clicking on to that label at the bottom of the entry.
Today we bring the official Church season of Christmas to a close by celebrating another important moment in the life of Jesus Christ, his baptism. As preparation for His coming, Jesus' cousin who is known to us as John the Baptist has emerged from the wilderness and is preaching that change is coming. John is telling people that they must turn from their evil ways, repent, and be baptized as new children of God. John was so charismatic that many were asking if indeed he were the awaited Messiah. These questions became so regular and consistent that John eventually felt he had to answer, and so he did most forcefully: "I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy of loosening the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." Jesus knew that the time had come for his public ministry to begin, and felt that the most important symbolic measure that he could take in beginning was to be baptized publicly by the most famous baptizer in John. Jesus had, of course, no need to be baptized. As we have discussed in previous Sunday Sermon entries, the sacrament of Baptism cleanses us from the original sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Jesus was the second human being ever, following his own mother Mary, to be born free of sin. But even having no personal need, Christ wished to provide an example of just how important this sacrament was for human beings. When he showed up in front of John asking to be baptized, John stated that it was Christ who should be baptizing him. But Jesus insisted, and John performed the baptism. As Christ rose from the waters a dove descended upon him, and a voice from heaven above was heard clearly by all those in attendance: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!" Jesus went forward and began his public preaching ministry, calling his disciples to him, teaching the Word of God, and ultimately dying on the cross to save you and all of us from having to pay the penalty for our sins. All we need to do is to accept this great gift of sacrificial suffering on Christ's part on our behalf. But speaking of that gift is for another day. Today is for celebrating the baptism of Jesus Christ, and anticipating the beginning of his mission. Jesus was 30 years old. The man who had raised him, his human father Joseph, Mary's husband, was a direct descendant in the line of King David, which traced itself back through Jacob and Isaac to Abraham himself, the grandfather of all the world's great religions. This line then traced further back to Noah, surviving the flood through Noah's son Shem. Finally, the line traces it's ultimate origins back through Seth to Adam, and ultimately to God. Jesus Christ healed the sin of his direct family line, which ran back through 75 recorded generations of humanity. As importantly, he healed the sins of every generation to come, including yours and mine, and those of our children and grandchildren and on into the future until he should return one day in glory. It all begins with the event we celebrate today, the readings that you will hear if you are in church, as you should be. It all begins with the baptism of the Lord, Jesus Christ.