The end of first full week of January 2015! Whew, it really goes by fast, and already I have appointments scheduled almost daily into the beginning of next month. Life breezes by, so we have to make the most of the time we have today, as tomorrow is not promised.
Tonight was the first Bible study of the New Year as we are continuing on in The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning. We had a new member join our little troop of ragamuffins, misfits and rabble, and she seemed to enjoy the fellowship, laughter, transparency, and challenging questions posed as we journey along in understanding and living the purpose for which we have been created. We're learning not to take ourselves so seriously, exposing the lies, and growing up in many ways. It doesn't matter how old we become, there's always something to learn, or else we may as well be dead. I for one enjoy learning something new every day, and if we take the time to truly think about, most people would admit they don't know it all, and it is energizing to expand our small horizons while getting rid of the junk that's cramping our style, or in this case, our walk.
The focus of this little study is to free ourselves of doctrines of man, preconceived ideas and notions which keep us bound up, up tight, going nowhere, and missing the point. Brennan Manning was a priest at one time, so he can offer some enlightening views on how confusing one becomes trying to live a righteous life. I want to share an amusing excerpt from the chapter entitled, "Magnificent Monotony" which our group felt gets the point across quite well:
"There was a time in my life when I knew nothing of this gracious God and his gospel of grace. Prior to my encounter with Jesus, my personal life was riddled with guilt, shame, fear, self-hatred, and obviously, low self-esteem. You see, growing up Catholic in the late 1930s and 1940s and 1950s, my central preoccupation was sin. It consumed us and dominated our consciousness.
There were two kinds of sin, mortal, which was the more serious kind, and venial. Committing a mortal sin means knowing that what you are about to do, think, want, or say is really bad...but doing, thinking, wanting, or saying it anyway. Most of the things we did wrong fell into the less offensive category of venial sin. Committing a venial sin meant doing something that is not really so bad, or doing something really bad that you didn't think is really bad or that your heart really isn't into doing. If your little brother is being a pest and you tell him to drop dead, you've committed a venial sin. If you shoot him dead, you've committed a mortal sin.
While the difference between mortal and venial sin seems obvious, don't be fooled. There is more to this than meets the eye. What is really bad and what isn't? And who decides? Here is a routine situation that every Catholic of my generation had to deal with: You are at a baseball game at Yankee Stadium on a Friday night in June 1950. Catholics are forbidden to eat meat under penalty of mortal sin. But you want a hot dog.
Now just considering eating meat on Friday is a venial sin; wanting to is another one. You have not moved in your seat and you have already sinned twice. What if you actually ate one? Aside from the risk of choking on forbidden food and getting punished right on the spot, have you committed a mortal sin or a venial sin? Well, if you think it's mortal, it may be mortal; and if you think it's venial, it still may be mortal. After much thought, you decide it's venial. You call the hot dog vendor, you take the money out of your pocket, and you buy a hot dog. This is clearly an act of free will. You figure you can go confess your sin to the priest on Saturday night. But wait! Does a venial sin become mortal when you commit it deliberately? That's a chance you take. What if you've forgotten it's Friday? In that case, eating the hot dog may not be a sin, but forgetting it's Friday is. What if you remember it's Friday halfway through the hot dog? Is it a venial sin to finish it? If you throw it away, is wasting food a sin? Within five minutes you have committed enough sins to land you in purgatory for a million years. The simplest thing to do is not to take any chances - stay away from Yankee Stadium on Fridays."
Something to think about. How many times have we gotten ourselves all tied up in knots by someone's interpretation of things regardless of whether they relate to spiritual matters or life in general. Even saying that statement could pose a threat, because to some life in general should include spiritual matters, or else you may be accused of living one way on Sundays and doing what you want on the others days of the week. Get the idea? Walking on egg shells. I think the most important thing when it relates to living life is that "actions speak louder than words." It's not so much as what you "say" as what you "do". And trust me people are watching!
We all fail, but if we're really trying and admit when we mess things up, then the actions says a lot. To coin a phrase, "We pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and start all over again." God is patient!
Today was a good day! I thank God for fellowship with friends, for sharing, and for the willingness to look within ourselves and see areas where growth and change are needed. And yes, being able to laugh at ourselves and not be offended! We're all on the path, the journey through life, so we may as well make the best of it, and dance along the way. Oh, and read the book - it may challenge your "point of view". I promise you will NOT be disappointed.
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