A House Divided

Interesting how ideas come for both sermons and for this blog. Inputs from disparate places such as e-mails from my mother, sermons from dear friends, readings and my own prayer life all come together (at least often enough) to give life to a concept. My spiritual journey (which greatly informs my worldy journey) is all about becoming unified in my beliefs, and allowing that unity to permeate my interactions with the world. This is more and more a unique way of being in the world. Our current world is very dissociated, individualized and polarized. Idols are created and they require blood sacrifice (e.g., working 80+ hour weeks and neglectiing the rest of our lives) and they are never satisfied. That's where we are in the world right now - serving self-created idols and never being satisfied. We live in houses that are divided - and as Abraham Lincoln noted, a house divided can not stand. How different it is when we view the world from a place of integrity. Integrity has synonyms of completeness, soundness and incorruptibility (Webster's on-line Dictionary). When we are complete or whole, then we are able to live into the chaos and vagaries of everyday life without being judgemental and reactionary. If I have integrity, then I am comfortable with who I am and how I see the world, and I am comfortable enough to meet others where they are. I may not agree with them, I may find them uninformed or misguided, but I can still love them enough to continue to be in relationship and community and try to help them find themselves. The integrity that comes from a right relationship with G-d allows me to be in right relationship with everyone else. That right relationship allows me to be less corruptible than I otherwise might be - the old saw is applicable, "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything". Integrity allows us to discover how to have a unified life and house. When we are working towards completeness and wholeness, then we are first looking inward to see how an interaction is making us feel. We respond to an interaction inwardly before we react outwordly. We ask ourselves, "what teaching does this interaction offer me?" If it is unfounded and judgemental, then it offers us very little and we can shrug it off and go on. However, if it is offered in truth and in love as a constructive teaching, then we can take it on and learn from it. The learning becomes transformational and enhances our ability to be relational. This week, explore your own integrity. Where are the holes, the incompleteness, the judgemental areas in your life? How is it that you can get in touch with those areas and find ways to make them more integral? One way is with a spiritual director. There is a wonderful website listing spiritual directors across the world (www.sdiworld.org) and I encourage you to engage one as a gift to yourself and the world this holiday season. Peace for the journey, Dan