I deny me

Denial is not a very positive thought for most people. We can be denied entry or denied our rights. We can be in denial or deny the truth. Yet, during this season of Lent we talk about denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following Jesus.

Many a psychological misfire comes from refusing to acknowledge how we are feeling and what is going on for us - so it does not seem likely that refusing to try to know and understand ourselves is the path to take. In fact, denying ourselves, involves letting go of on the surface living and striving for something much deeper. It is only when we begin to see our whole selves we can begin to let go of anything at all.

This is a work of prayer and discernment and this denial is not self-loathing, but rather of self-exploration; overcoming that part of us which wants to skim the surface rather than settle into the water of the pool.

Evil?

Today's Psalm at our main service will be Psalm 121. In it we are promised that God will keep us from evil. I wonder what evil actually means? Many centuries ago it just meant the worst of the worst, then in moved on to mean the morally absent.

I worry more recently that it has become a word which means "those people" - someone other and frightening, or actually destructive, is evil. If we are not careful there become classes of people who are, somehow, substantially different from us or through whom some supernatural being chooses to test everyone else. This sort of moral imperialism is dangerous and is precisely where genocide comes from. No doubt there are words and actions which are diametrically opposed to the Gospel, but are the people who engage in them intrinsically different?

The Old Testament is clear that one of God's demands is to refrain from moral elitism which writes off the needs of others, the orphan and the widow are usually mentioned. Perhaps one interpretation of being kept from evil is that when we look after each other society becomes more stable. Empires have fallen again and again because those in charge get too greedy and everyone else cannot support the weight of the structure. Israel was no different and neither are empires today. So what is evil - I do not think God is keeping us from each other - so what then?

A Fearless Example

I remember, whilst my children were still young, someone telling me stories of teaching their teen to drive. After several rounds of rolling stops she finally said, "Do what I say and not what I do." I actually remembered this when each of my four kids had had at least two hours behind the wheel and knew more about driving than anyone ever.

The point of the picture is the same - lead by example. It is not only children who need good examples set it is anyone who is in uncharted territory. How do we respond to extreme stress, to fear, to the unknown? Who is going to set the example? I think we, as people of faith, have to be the ones. We have to act upon what we claim to believe and step up to the mark.

That is not about preaching at people but about examining our values and applying them to new situations. We love God and God's image is in each person. We live in community, community which we do not want to damage through selfishness. Faith is not a consumer product which can be adapted to constantly make us feel better - it is something deeper. It roots us, yes, but it also demands of us a sacrificial and fearless way of living.