SPEAKING TRUTH IN LOVE - A homily

[This my homily which I delivered  at my church on August 2, 2015 which I spoke of in my post on the Gospel of John (click here)]

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“We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love.”  Ephesians 4: 14-16

Speaking truth in love is, to my mind, one of the biggest challenges of our time, if not any time.  It is a particular challenge that has been given to the church throughout the ages and a challenge to this church, our congregation in this place, at this time.  It’s a challenge because truth is not something that you find lying about or having a neon light flashing, "Get your truth here."

There is no small degree of subjectivity when it comes to talking about truth.  What may seem true to me may not be a true for you.  Truth is not like fact, something we might readily agree on, like the fact that I am standing here giving this homily and you are seated in this church – that's a fact. 

Truths are largely transcendent ideas that are intuited, which in turn lead to experiences with them and from which a better definition of truth is distilled.  As such truths are organic, their meanings and applications grow and expand.

One of the best examples of an intuited truth comes not from the Bible but from another source we, in the United States, are familiar with, “The Declaration of Independence” which says, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…”  

The term self-evident simply means there is no outside evidence to support it; that is intuited as being true. Thomas Jefferson, who penned these words and those who signed them, understood the difference between a truth that was self-evident; that is intuited and a truth distilled from experience. 

Equality of persons was nowhere near being a fact when The Declaration of Independence was written. Even today, any innate sense of equality that might exist amongst human beings disappears on the first breath taken, but throughout the generations since these words were written, they continue to inspire our nation towards greater equality and a more just society. 

Truth is an energizing mechanism, like a mighty river, ever shaping the contours of our lives.  No singular person can contain "TRUTH." 

Try to grab a river. Go ahead and try and grab it with your hands. It will flow through your fingers.  It might even grab you. Truth is like that.  It can grab us all of sudden and when it does our lives are changed.

The writer of Ephesians understood this about truth when using Paul's description of the church as the Body of Christ.  This metaphor helps us to understand the work of God in Christ and in our midst.  It helps us to understand the importance of speaking truth in love.   For we understand the Body of Christ to be a conveyor of God's truth to the world, and with an ever-increasing understanding of how small our world is and  how interconnected we are, comes a broadened understanding of what the Body of Christ means in the world today.

We can humbly and honestly say that no single religion contains the whole TRUTH, just as, no single person can, just as no part of a body can claim to be the most important part because the truth is we need each other.

Truth resides in every person and in every religion, because religion as a whole represents a collective human response to the very ancient and expanding intuition about that BEING in which we live and move and have our being, God. Inter-faith dialogue has revealed the fact that the religions share far more truths than they do differences. Jesus taught us that every person in the world is important to us because every person, even our enemies and those who might persecute us is part of the organicity that is God.

We need to claim this understanding of truth or we, in fact, become like children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, trickery, and scheming. 

There are those who will tell you their version of truth, as if they possess it.

Don’t believe it.

There are those who will portray truth as a rock solid doctrine that is to be believed without question.

Don’t go there.

This is what the writer of Ephesians is warning us about. 

The sad fact is that many who portray truth this way are in the Christian church. Ephesians is telling us to grow up – to carefully consider everything we hear whether it be from a pulpit, a soap box or on one’s favorite news source and not to run with it, but like an adult, walk it through, see where it's going, see how its growing and whether it is life-giving.

The best way that I know of to speak the truth is to speak from the heart what is in one’s heart.  It is also the best way to speak truth from the perspective of love.  Speaking the truth, in itself, is a challenge. Speaking the truth in love, is an even greater challenge because when truth hits, it hits with a passion and sometime that passion can make us express such truths in ways that are less then loving.  Even Jesus experienced and demonstrated that from time to time. (Remember the cleaning of the temple fiasco.)

Everyone here has something true to say; something residing in our hearts that is meant to be shared.  Truth often comes to us in small bits and pieces. We may not all come from the same place, intuit the same things, have the same experiences or see things the same way, and that is why it is important to share out of love what truths reside in us. It is only by putting all these bits and pieces together that we can see the bigger picture. 

What is also implied in speaking the truth in love and in the metaphor of the body functioning properly is that we pay attention to each other, that we listen in love to each other, just as it is a healthy practice to pay attention and listens to one’s body.  Truth is rarely an easy thing to say or an easy thing to hear, what is true is often that which challenges us in ways that make us uncomfortable for a time.  

When Jesus spoke truth to the religious and political authorities of his day there were strong reactions on their part.  Speaking truth to power is frequently fatal, but also life giving, and life-resurrecting.  The fear of not wanting to make waves or upsetting people can lead to blocking one from saying what is in one's heart, and a stifled heart is an unhealthy heart. Truth is not meant to be contained.

As a congregation and a presenting Body of Christ in this community, we are tasked with speaking truth in love to this community.  The church was never meant to be a self-contained unit that speaks only to its self.  As a presenting Body of Christ, in this in this community, God intends that we grow in love, and that we pour ourselves, as Christ poured himself out in the truth of love like a mighty, life-changing river.     

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Until next time, stay faithful.