Sometimes
there's laughter - but what makes you (or them) laugh? What are you
uncomfortable with, but chuckle any way to avoid making a scene, to fit in? Is
someone degraded? To laugh or not to laugh, to nod or not to do: we declare who
we are, and disclose our moral compass and priorities when we talk, and
laugh.
Even gossip:
yes, it's bad manners, and often downright mean to gossip. But surprisingly
enough, in gossip we often declare our moral position. "I can't believe he had
an affair!" "She bent the truth and it got her into trouble." "I would never
leave my children." "If I cheated on taxes, I'd get caught, or feel like a
schmuck."
In all these,
what you value pops out - or you are schooled in the beliefs of others. In
worship, we recite a creed. Some Christians don't like creeds... but somehow in
worship we declare who we are, or at least who we wish to be in the light of
God's grace. In worship, we name our truest self, our highest aspirations, our
noblest beliefs. We believe God is "almighty," and that Jesus is "our Lord,"
that resurrection happens, that a judgment awaits us in the future, that
forgiveness is hard but essential, and that this life is really a prelude to
bigger things to come.
Maybe the
creed, what we've named in worship that we say we believe, can linger into the
week, and live in our minds and hearts as the most intriguing, and motivating of
all our thoughts, the gyroscope that keeps me pointed in the right direction,
the calming whisper that maintains focus. In mid-conversation, I remember that I
believe in God...
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