Fr. Tony’s Mid-week Message Dec. 3,
2014
Frogs, Scorpions, and Advent
(Tony and Elena will be back this week from their adventure in the
Great Barrier Reef and Bali.)
There is a traditional West African
story that in various forms has often been retold in literature and
films. A scorpion asks a frog to carry him across a river. The frog is
afraid of being stung, but the scorpion reassures him that if it stung, the
frog would sink and the scorpion would drown as well. The frog then
agrees. But in mid-river, the scorpion stings him, dooming them
both. When asked why, the scorpion explains, "I'm a scorpion; it's
my nature." They both then drown.
Now if the moral we draw from this
story is “watch out—people do not always base their actions on rationally
considered self-interest,” good. But if we draw the moral, “there is no
hope for anyone ever changing for the good,” I think we have made a serious
mistake.
Advent is a season of preparation
and anticipation. It is a season of
reflection and self-awareness. Most of
our Sunday readings, no matter what Lectionary year, are about the possibility
of new life, new ways of seeing the world and behaving, newly restored
relationships.
The call throughout the Hebrew
scriptures is, “Turn back, turn back, O Israel—Shuvu, shuvu,
Yisrael.” And though we may have lost our freedom—whether through some
primordial missing of the mark in the origin of our race (“Original Sin”), or through
bad actions of our own that have become habits, that in turn have become
addiction or compulsion of one sort or another—the gist of much of the
Christian Testament is that for God, nothing is impossible.
That doesn’t mean necessarily that God will take us where we want to go,
but that God will take us where God wants us to be, no matter how hard it may
appear. Our job is to try get out of the way, to try to attune ourselves
in such a way that we are working with God and not against him.
As we travel this journey through
Advent, this “little Lent,” may we always have hope that we can change for the
better, and that all people have this gift from God.
Grace and Peace, Tony+
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