Today we are invited to bring the truth of ourselves into our spiritual and religious practices: the all-too-common hypocrisy practiced in those arenas is condemned. It is easier said than done to bring our full selves into places of public encounter and worship and perhaps, when we don’t, it is the weakest who suffer.
Photo by Ben Hershey on Unsplash
The Hebrew prophets are renowned for their stark critique of double standards. Often, this hones in on the difference between levels of devotion displayed in religious practice and that demonstrated in communal life. In today’s quote from the prophet Isaiah, the voice is God’s and God expresses a great weariness with the hypocrisy of worshippers. Perhaps you relate to it:
“Your new moons and your appointed festivals
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me,
I am weary of bearing them.”
‘I am weary of bearing your appointed festivals.’ Sit with this sentiment for a while. What does it mean to you?
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How easy do you find it to bring your moments of weariness and vulnerability into your prayers, be they private or public? In one of the Psalms, the poet is confident enough to share his most desperate feelings with his God - and at some point these were codified into a song that we use today in public worship:
“I have passed out of mind like one who is dead...
Terror all around!...
But I trust in you, O Lord”
‘I have passed out of mind like one who is dead.’ Sit with the depth of this feeling, and the significance of sharing it in public prayer, for a while.
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Jesus was full of compassion for the terrified, forgotten and suffering. And he was frighteningly passionate in his rage against hypocrisy, particularly that practiced by those with spiritual authority. You may be impressed by this articulate attack he mounted against the Pharisees:
“You snakes, you brood of vipers! How can you escape being sentenced to hell?”
Anger is one of the most difficult emotions to bring into the open. What are your feelings about the way Jesus did this?
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We seem to be emerging from this season of pandemic - and the way we reappear publicly matters. This is relevant for us at Whirlow Spirituality Centre and as individuals. Recent months have shown how vulnerable we and our rituals are. They have tested our assumptions about how to operate together; who is included and who is excluded. And many of us will remain somewhat exhausted by this experience and its teachings for a while.
Give yourself some time to notice how you really are and to express it somehow. In a listening relationship; in creativity; in journaling or whatever works for you. Contemplate bringing something of that authenticity back into public life with you as the lockdown eases.