Fr. Tony’s Midweek Message
Common Life
February 13, 2014
St. Paul, writing to the Corinthians,
said,
“I
have a serious concern to bring up with you, my friends, using the authority of
Jesus, our Master. I’ll put it as urgently as I can: You must get along
with each other. You must learn to be considerate of one another, cultivating a
life in common” (1 Cor 1:10, The Message)
The Corinthian Church he wrote to was
divided by parties, cliques, and incipient sects. Much of his letter seeks to address specific
points of division or teach an overall way of getting along in the Church.
I often hear from people that what
brought them to Trinity was the good community life offered, the fact that
people in the parish care for one another and truly seek to live the
Gospel. I see everyday evidence of this,
and feel very blessed to be called to minister to such a community. As Jesus said, “By your love for one another
shall people know that you are my disciples.”
I do on occasion, however, hear from
people in the parish who have been deeply hurt by others. I suspect this usually comes from
thoughtlessness rather than deliberate, intentional nastiness. The
most common type of injury stems from a simple lack of courtesy, where one
person seems to denigrate or at least devalue the gifts and tastes of another. This might take the form of a general
expression of dislike or contempt for certain kinds of art or music, or styles
of worship. It might be phrased prettily
as a “helpful suggestion” for improvement.
Such commentary comes with the turf,
perhaps, in a theater town and a parish with a lot of musical talent. We all love to be critics. Often, I think, the person making the comment
is unaware that the person to whom they are speaking deeply loves the music or
art in question, maybe has spent years honing a skill in it, or is profoundly moved
by the style of worship—simple or complex—thus belittled. Sometimes the critic is aware of the other
person’s attachment to the thing criticized, but feels a need to set the other
person straight, or at least establish his or her own ‘expertise’ in the matter
being judged.
But there is no love in judgment. Such
off hand remarks by those in community with us can deeply hurt, sometimes worse
than intended insults by opponents. The
problem is that often the thing ‘corrected,’ belittled or criticized is
something that truly matters to the other person, something where they find joy
and feel God, or something to which God is calling them. Disrespecting someone else’s calling from
God is rightly understood by people as dishonoring them.
So in the spirit of Paul, let me repeat
a couple of basic rules for us to get along well in community and build our
common life in Christ:
1)
I must always try to
be open to things that are not my “cup of tea.”
2)
I should try to
phrase my judgments on art, music, or worship style in terms of what I find
attractive, not what I find unattractive.
3)
I should feel free to
pursue my calling and my passion, and let my work and art speak for itself.
4)
I should generally
refrain from playing the teacher, opinion leader, or critic. If asked or tasked to take on such a role, I
should limit it to the specific demands of the request or tasking. As a teacher, leader, or critic, I must
always try to build up and not tear down, remembering that the best pedagogy is
empowering someone to learn on their own and correct their own errors.
5)
I should seek to
honor Christ in every person, as I promised in the baptismal covenant,
regardless of our differences in politics, taste, morals, or backgrounds.
I have found in my own life that every
time I have let myself learn a new form of expression, whether musical,
artistic, or in worship, I have always been enriched. When I was young, I found what I indiscriminately
booked together as “classical” music too hard and inaccessible. Fortunately, in college, I fell in love with
a woman of impeccable taste and was motivated to learn the delicate and joyful art
of appreciating fine music. In fact, I became something of a snob. I later developed a real prejudice against
what I characterized at the time as “hands in the air, repetitive,
happy-clappy” PRAISE music. But I served
in parishes with Evangelicals who loved this kind of music, and performed and
led it. I came to appreciate it, and today,
two of the hymns I thus learned have become favorites, always deeply moving to
me.
We are very blessed in Ashland and at
Trinity to have such gifted people in our midst, and such diversity. Let’s remember to treat ourselves and others
gently, and always try to build each other up and respect the gifts and
callings God gives each of us.
Grace and peace,
Fr.
Tony+
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