Our Moral Imperative

As I continue to read Dr. Paul Farmer's story in Mountains Beyond Mountains, the phrase, "moral imperative" surfaces. Surely we each have at least one guiding imperative, and probably our imperatives evolve over time.  We should always be asking ourselves, "What  propels us forward? Is it healthy? What are our deeply held beliefs? What stirs us to love another? Are we being good stewards of what God has given us?" Perhaps one of the gifts of this unsettling post-election time is that these questions are taking on some new urgency. There is no longer any room for complacency. We must follow Jesus' call to be awake. 

Earlier this week, I and our worship team were on a floor dedicated to Alzheimer's care. The staff turnover is extremely high, but there are always at least a few residents that we can connect with and simply enjoy being with them. We were singing Christmas carols, and that is always fun because the memory of those hymns and songs is deeply embedded; almost everyone can join in with a nod of the head and at least a word or two. Between hymns, one of the residents  asked if she could talk to me. She said, "I do not want to disturb the others, but I am Jewish. These songs are nice, but why Jesus?" I replied that the love of Jesus comes from his showing people that God's love was for everyone. She asked if Jesus hated Jews. I replied that he himself was Jewish so that was definitely not the case, and I encouraged her to think of him as one who carried the story of God's love further into the world.  She smiled and asked, "Oh, so we are still worshiping the same God?" I responded that yes, that is true, and the answer seemed to make her happy; we had found common ground. How much of this conversation she will remember we shall have to see. However, to remember the conversation is not Pauline's moral imperative. It is mine. 

In today's reading of The Rule of St. Benedict, the subject concerns artisans in the monastery.  Sister Joan's interpretation of St. Benedict's stance on this topic is that artists should indeed practice their art; that beauty should never be suppressed. However, art should not tyrannize the community either. "The unusually gifted person...is also required to see that their giftedness does not get in the way of their striving for sanctity." I interpret this to mean we do not worship our giftedness; we use our giftedness to worship God.    

Our collective moral imperative is that we use our gifts to serve God, our families, and our wider communities, and to allow others to do the same.  That is sanctity, whether we are brilliant doctors working on a global scale, a mother of four tending to the growth of her children, or somewhere in between.       

  

   

Perhaps what’s needed is not some grand gesture, but a thousand small decencies. Perhaps it is enough to address the needs that are right in front of us, to become light this Advent for the people there in our midst … in the shops, on the street, in our workplaces and yes, most especially in our families. And by doing so, add our light to the sum of light. 

Judith Valente, author