A Message from Bishop Paul V. Marshall
February
2007
Save
the world in an ordinary way By Bishop Paul V. Marshall
This is Bishop Paul Marshall’s
August column for secular newspapers, usually different from his column
in Diocesan Life. The column is sent to newspapers throughout our 14
counties. It is published by
The Morning Call, Allentown, on the first (occasionally, the second)
Saturday of every month. The combined circulation of papers that publish
the column regularly is about 400,000. More than 100 columns have been
published over the past nine years.
I feel the ambivalence mounting. Most Christians in Pennsylvania are about to start their annual tune-up,
Lent.
Some are thinking about what they will give up; some, about
what they will take on. Some are thinking about going on a diet and
getting religious credit for it. Others think it is silly and will
ignore it.
The concept of six weeks of focus on what one values most
- deliberately pushing distractions aside - is useful, even for those
who consider themselves "spiritual but not religious," as
the personal ads put it.
For those just beginning to think about a constructive springtime
for their interior life, I mention a few possibilities that involve
the saving of the world in a very ordinary sense.
From Bono and U2 to interfaith groups to the United Nations
itself, we have a heightened awareness that we have the means to address
poverty, inequality, and the sustainability of the earth with a modicum
of effort. The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) continue to gather momentum across the planet. You can study
the eight simple goals at www.un.org/millenniumgoals .
Whether one practices a religion or not, undertaking a few
simple spiritual disciplines in solidarity with the MDG can give each
of us personal depth and increased commitment to be of use to our species.
The tradition of fasting has many uses - you meet the rough
edges of your personality quickly when you are hungry. We might go
beyond that this year.
What if one day a week we went without food, or did so at
least for 12 hours? I suspect that would heighten our sense of connection
with those for whom starvation is not a choice, and free up a little
money we might offer to feed them. It would help reconnect us with
the 1.5 billion or so people on the planet who live on less than one
dollar a day.
Another path of "fasting" that has more than one
effect on us has to do with the tube. What would be the effect of unplugging
your televisions for six weeks?
When we have done this in our home we find that it deepens
our awareness of human community. The family has to talk to each other.
It deepens our connection to the life of the world's majority
whose "entertainment" is the (at times) more meaningful experience
of sharing silence, telling stories, encountering literature, listening
to music, and relating to God in prayer. This can also be a time to
rediscover how much the imagination is stimulated by listening to the
radio.
A third possibility remains. You might want to join me in
pledging not to acquire anything other than food, healthcare, and necessary
maintenance items during those forty days of Lent.
Such a discipline offers us the opportunity to imagine a
primary identity other than "consumer of goods and services" and
to see if that does not direct our self-image from consumer to child
of God, whose dignity is located in who one is rather than what one
has.
Such abstinence helps us realize that for most of the world,
shopping for entertainment or stress relief is an unknown concept.
It would drive us to more meaningful ways to scratch our itches and
soothe our souls. What we do not spend we might divide between savings
and charity.
There are many other ways to tune up one's soul. The common
element in those I suggest here is the one-two action of pulling away
from the usual comfort zone in order to connect and care for the larger
world.
Lent means springtime, when things grow. I wish you much
growth.
.
[The Rt. Rev. Paul V. Marshall
is bishop of the Diocese of Bethlehem, the Episcopal Church in 14 counties
of eastern and northeastern Pennsylvania. Additional columns and sermons
by Bishop Marshall are available at www.diobeth.org]
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