1st January 2006
Christ Church
Morningside
New Year's Day
2006
Well, here we are… the start of another New Year.
I sometimes think of the New Year as a field, freshly covered in a blanket of snow, all shiny and glistening, unblemished, without a single footprint… Looking behind at the old year, however, and the snow is dotted with marks and footprints, muddied and blackened where people have driven, dug or just simply made a mess.
But the New Year, the New Year, it’s all yet to come, anything is possible, it’s a fresh start, a new start, a chance to reach for one’s dreams…
I don’t know if you are in the habit of making New Year’s resolutions. Good luck to you if you do! I made a New Year’s resolution a few years ago – and amazingly I am still keeping it. In fact, this particular New Year’s resolution maybe the only New Year’s resolution that I have actually kept! Perhaps it is because this untarnished New Year’s resolution is a very simple one, it doesn’t have any complicated concepts or ideas – and it is this – I resolved never again to make a New Year’s resolution. And, as I said, I have been good to my promise; I haven’t made any kind of personal Janurian promises for years – and I have felt much the better for it!
My mother-in-law lives in Washington DC. This year – no last year – she sent us a little booklet at the end of November. It was a thought-for-the-day in Advent booklet – actually these are very popular in churches in America. In both the churches where I served we would hand these out to people every Advent and Lent.
Anyway, it’s a little booklet called “Daybreaks.” I have to say that I really enjoyed reading this book every day, it was a real joy to have it as a companion through the days of preparation in Advent. One of the articles in particular caught my attention. It was for the third Thursday in Advent and it was entitled “Achieving Perfection.”
“There are two classical concepts of perfection, one Greek and the other Hebrew. In the Greek ideal, to be perfect is to have no deficiencies, no faults, no flaws; it means to be completely whole, true, good and beautiful. To be perfect, then, is never to sin.
The Hebrew idea of perfection
is quite different. In this mindset, to be perfect simply means to walk
with God, despite our flaws. Perfection here means being in the divine
presence, in spite of the fact that we are not perfectly whole, good,
true and beautiful.”
This is it! This is why I try not to be tempted into making New Year’s resolutions. Because New Year’s resolutions are all to do with achieving perfection – the Greek idea of perfection – being whole, good, true and beautiful:
I’ll stop smoking, I will exercise more, I will give up eating… whatever; I’ll stop swearing (quite so much), I’ll be a better husband, wife, mother, father, child; I’ll read more of my bible, I’ll be more faithful in my prayer-life…
All of this has to do with the Greek ideal of perfection
All of this has to do with how the world sees and judges perfection
And – if you think about it - all of this has to do with striving for perfection through one’s own merits, strength and resources. And didn’t the Church get rid of this idea already? A long, long time ago – ask the Church historians among us all about the British (could have been Scottish) monk, Pelagius.
And it’s all so self defeating, isn’t it?
This mindset usually leads to nothing but guilt, self-doubt and depression:
Because we never measure up – either to our internal critic – telling us that we aren’t good enough, we don’t measure up, we will never succeed or be perfect; or measure up to all of the external critics – we’re always too fat, too stupid, uninformed, un-trendy, un-sexy, too poor, too un-disciplined…
But, “…the Hebrew idea of perfection is quite different… Perfection here means being in the divine presence, in spite of the fact that we are not perfectly whole, good, true and beautiful.”
The Hebrew idea of perfection means being in the divine presence.
I like this.
One reason is that I feel that I am a rather sorry example of the human species and so don’t stand much of a chance in the Greek system.
The other is that – and I know that this is terrible English – but the Hebrew model rings truer, somehow. The Greek view of perfection is rather backward looking. To use my analogy of the snow covered fields – one is always looking at the old field, stained and muddied, and saying ‘oh dear’, we really do need to do something about that’ - rather than looking ahead at the fresh field, the possibilities…
I am a Guardian Newspaper reader. You probably would expect nothing else from an Episcopal priest in Morningside. Polly Toynbee – you might remember that “she published the book Hard Work: Life in Low-Pay Britain about an experimental period voluntarily living on the minimum wage, which was £4.10 per hour at the time. She worked as a hospital porter in an NHS hospital, a dinner lady in a primary school, a nursery assistant, a call-centre employee, a cake factory worker and a care home assistant” - wrote a very interesting article which was published a couple of days ago:
“At the turn of the year miserablism is in the air. Pessimism, disgust with everything, ennui, cynicism, all these are enemies of progress… Look at the recent strange crop of moral doom books, some on the best-seller lists. “Is It Just Me, Or Is Everything S**t?” Lynne Truss, in her “Talk to the Hand – The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today.”
Polly goes on to say:
“Let’s get one thing clear. This is the golden age – so far. There never has been a better time to be alive in Britain than today, no generation more blessed, never such opportunity for so many. And things are getting better all the time, horizons widening, education spreading, everyone living longer, healthier, safer lives. Unimaginable luxuries and choices now standard…”
One of the ways in which to live in the divine presence is precisely this:
To see and celebrate the intrinsic goodness of things. This, after all, is the golden age!
Another way in which to live in the divine presence is to see and celebrate the sacredness of all things:
To see and celebrate the sacredness of life
The sacredness of our bodies
The sacredness of the world around us
The sacredness of other people
The sacredness of our food
The sacredness of our clothing and homes
The sacredness of our thoughts and those of others
Of course trying to see and celebrate the intrinsic goodness and sacredness of the world around us sounds a lot like making a New Year’s resolution – and I promised you that we wouldn’t be getting into that kind of thing. Besides which, I don’t want to get mawkish so I’ll stop here.
But just to say that I think living in the divine presence also has something to do with being utterly yourself; being the way God created you to be. Not other people’s image of you. Not the way society is told to see you or to see ourselves. Not some image driven by guilt, fear or pain, but God’s image, your real image.
So… if you are or have made New Year’s resolutions, as I said, good luck to you, I wish you all the best! As for me, I think I’ll, once again, leave well alone.
A blessed New Year!
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1st January 2006