February 2017
From the Rector’s desk by Rev. Anthony MacWhinnie, II
I write to you today on the feast of the conversion of St. Paul. Paul (Saul of Tarsus) is on the road to Damascus for the explicit reason of persecuting Christians there. He admits to having voted for their execution in the past and to locking them up in prison and abusing them in synagogues so as to cause them to blaspheme so that they will be justified in abusing them more. Saul is not a nice guy for us Christians… But then he has this experience that completely changes his views about Christians, about himself, and about God. He is converted by the presence of God and the words that are spoken to him. “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.” With a “goad” being a sharp stick used to poke at cattle to get them to move where you want them to move. It occurs to me that recognizing the goads can be the hardest part of our conversion process. But also, we’re really deft at justifying our own prejudices. One of my seminary professors just published a piece called “The Myth of Pure Evil” (http://ssw.edu/blog/myth-pure-evil/). In it, he says, “Haidt presents recent psychological research that confirms an important truth: most of the time we simply have no idea why we are doing what we are doing. We respond to most of the things we experience in life by immediate gut reactions. But here is the crazy part: Our minds hurry along afterwards, like well-paid lawyers, in order to explain why what we did, said, or decided to believe was or is the most obvious, logical, rational thing that anyone else with our wisdom and life experience would have felt compelled to choose in the exact same situation. This is called “confabulation.” This confabulation helps to aid the delusion that our previous gut reaction actually was a well-informed rational decision. Furthermore, when other folks don’t follow our decision and behavior patterns, rather than question our own we are deft at and rather quick to explain away their deviation from the obviously right choice (the one we made) by means of pointing out how they are fatally flawed or just damaged goods. Perhaps they are even pure evil.”
Our Staff & Vestry Rev, Anthony MacWhinnie, II, Rector Vestry: Chuck Barnett - Senior Warden Jim Warner- Junior Warden Beth Woods, Susan Early,& John Velaski Twinette McDonald - Music Director Sally Putters - Parish Nurse
So, as we stumble along in life, thinking we’re the be all and end all of wisdom and experience, it could be that we’re just justifying our behavior by comparing ourselves to those different than us and saying, “Hey! They must be wrong because, obviously, I’m right!” We keep missing the goads of self-improvement along the way because we’re so busy condemning those we think are different than us, or that we think are our persecutors. We busy ourselves with how wrong they must be instead of doing just a smidgeon of self-reflection. Conversion is like that. It means we have to take our eyes off the other person and gaze upon ourselves for a moment. Don’t start with “I’m right and they are wrong.” Don’t even start with “I’m right.” Conversion starts with Jesus. Conversion doesn’t have to be as dramatic as the one that happened to St. Paul on the road to Damascus. Conversion can be as simple as listening to God in prayer. When Jesus says, “Pray for your enemies,” this is what he’s talking about. We get so stuck on them being wrong and wanting them to KNOW that they are wrong that we miss the goads… And the goads hurt us… So, where do you need conversion? The next time you find yourself in one of those endless loops of mental arguments with your foe, stop. Stop and pray. And by pray, I mean listen. See what God has to say to you. You may just come away converted. Peace, Anthony+
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