Reflections
Not long ago, I was asked by a college student how I could stand to go to church, how I could stand the hypocrisy of Christians. I had one of my rare inspirations, when I know the right thing to say, and I replied, “The only hypocrite I have to worry about on Sunday morning is myself.”
— Kathleen Norris The Cloister Walk
- We want a culture of Grace, not a culture of judging, not a culture of making the right choice
- By default we think it is other people’s problem/issue first
- Is our church a place that fill with grace, care, and humility?
- More often than not, church is a place that condemn sinners
- The passage is not saying that we stop making moral/value judgment
- but stop being self-righteous, arrogant, judgemntalism, seeing crystal clear of other’s problem
- We must know that we
- all have nature blindness spiritually (v42)
- People in village close to death camp in WWII
- “We know it but we don’t know it”
- how humanity was suppressed
- always in denial
- need to remember the gospel before addressing people around us
- “I have the log that I must get rid of”
- Gospel fills with stories of disciples falling short, but they do not gloss over these details
- Enable a community of grace when we confront our problem of being a hypocrite
- all have nature blindness spiritually (v42)
- Jesus’ job – to love us; our job – to love each other
