Searching for Consistency

There can sometimes be a disconnect or an inconsistency between the words we speak or the values we espouse and the actions of our lives. For as long as I can remember, Christians have been accused of hypocrisy because of the gap between their lives and the one they claim to follow.

Most recently, following the trial and imprisonment of Jeffrey Donaldson for crimes of a sexual nature committed against children, people are raising this inconsistency again. As a man who was very vocal about his faith and the role it played in his life, as someone who wore a fish symbol on his lapel to identify himself as a Christian, people found it hard to believe the revelations about his double life.

It’s not so easy to publicly identify as a Christian. People tend to scrutinise your life and ask the hard questions. Some have left the church in protest at how they have been treated by those who claim to be Christian leaders.

On 9th June 1996, I was ordained Deacon in Dromore Cathedral. It was a big occasion, and I remember reversing my car into a gate post on the way to the service as I left my new house. My rector gave me the next day off and we had our first staff meeting on the Tuesday morning. He gave me some parish lists, the names of some people in hospital and some other names of people that he wanted me to call and visit. He told me about services I would be preaching at in the coming weeks and, as I left full of excitement and anticipation of this new life ahead, it was a very warm sunny day.

I was stopped by the red traffic lights at the top of the road. In the south of Ireland where I grew up lights go straight from red to green. There is no amber lights as there are here to prepare you for heading off. As I sat at the top of the queue in the blazing sun with the windows down, I was honked from behind for not taking off quickly enough as the lights went from red to amber before turning to green. Without thinking, I stuck my hand out the window making a very rude hand gesture to the driver behind who had honked me.

Looking in my rear view mirror I saw his hand covering his mouth in shock and wondered momentarily what his problem was. If he had been rude and impatient with me, it should hardly come as a great shock that I might react. It was then I caught sight, not only of him, but of myself, in the rear view mirror. It was the second day in my new life when I was wearing a clerical collar, that I was meeting the world as a publicly identifiable Christian.

Clearly, from his reaction, it wasn’t how he expected a Christian to react, and I spent the next 24 hours wondering if I had been rude to one of my new parishioners!!

I share this story, not because I’m proud of my actions or behaviour, quite the opposite. What the incident taught me was that, when you identify publicly as a Christian, whether you wear a clerical collar, a fish, a sticker on your car, or you take a certain view on a particular subject, people will have expectations.

Sometimes, when I am preparing families for the service of Holy Baptism, when children or babies are brought forward to become members of a local church and to make commitments in their lives about following Jesus, I ask people a question. Imagine if, instead of signing the person being baptised with water, making the sign of the Cross to show who they now follow, and whose authority they live under, I used ink instead.

Imagine if every Christian believer went through life with an ink cross on their forehead identifying them as a believer, I wonder would it change our behaviour. Would it change the way we speak to people in the service industries or in retail outlets? Would it change the way we drive our car or interact with our families or work colleagues. Would it change the way we do our tax returns or the type of books we read or programmes we watch or things that we pay attention to on our mobile phone?

On one level, that inked cross, if it existed, could and should change everything. We want there to be a real difference that is visible in our new life where we have consciously placed Jesus at the centre. I like the advice St. Paul offered to the Colossians where he said, “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.” That’s a good benchmark for most of our words and behaviours. Can I do whatever it is in the name of the Lord Jesus. If the answer is ‘no’ or we have an uncertainty around it, the chances are we shouldn’t be doing it.

Don’t forget to pray for those who have great responsibilities and who hold public office alongside their Christian faith. Pray that they, and we, might find a consistency between the words we speak and the way we live our lives, modelled on the Lord Jesus.

Don’t forget our community picnics continue tonight from 5.30pm-7.30pm. This week we gather in the hall as the ground is wet following the heavy rain. It’s an opportunity to meet and get to know our neighbours on these Tuesdays in June/July.

We hope that you can join us at some point over the coming months.

Look forward to speaking again soon.

Much love to everyone,

Jono.

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