The Seamless Christian

" Be vigilant, or your hearts will be weighted down with dissipation, with drunkeness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectantly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be vigilant always, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you  may be able to stand before the Son of Man." [Luke 34-36].

It is Advent, and once again, it is the start of a new Christian year. It is a time of waiting and expectant hope, for the coming of Jesus, yet again, in our lives.

As Christians, we are called to always wait with hope and joy for Jesus. We are  called each day to convert, to draw ever nearer to the Son of Man. This is our lifelong walk of faith.
For, one day, at the hour of our death, we will be judged.

And one day, when Jesus returns to his earthly reign, we will all be called before Him, and our life will be measured.

I think of the phrase, "Be vigilant', and what I hear is the admonition to always act in an honest and sacred way, whether others are watching us or not. In other words, we are to live as "seamless Christians". 

This notion of a "seamless Christian" reminds me of a time when a massive financial fraud was uncovered, which was the constant subject of all the media. A co-worker of mine turned to me and said, " Do the perpetrators think that they are invisible?"

There is a dangerous trend we want to indulge in lately, to make sins committed in secret acceptable, because they are conducted in private.

I say this because of an article in The New York Times, on November 21, 2012, regarding Sesame Street's Elmo puppeteer, Kevin Clash, who has resigned after a lawsuit filed against him by a young man accusing Clash of sexual abuse when the young man was 15.  The article goes on to quote a Columbia University professor who complains that this is just one more example of " sex panic"; and that "sexuality is being driven back into the closet as something shameful and incompatible with honor or decency."

Ah, BUT: this alleged instance of sexual activity is not the same sacred and holy sexuality that God promises us in an equal and mature relationship. If the young man's allegations are true, we are talking about a 15 year old boy in a physical relationship with a revered childrens'  TV star.

Consider a child who is secretly abused by her father for her entire childhood. This man is, by all other accounts, a model citizen, a hard-working man who keeps an immaculate lawn, who pays his bills on time, who washes the family car weekly and holds a responsible job. Would we say that the father's abuse is "private" and therefore, acceptable? Would accusations against the father be called merely a "sex panic", because they occurred in secret for decades?

Then, on November 22, 2012, there was another article in The New York Times about former General David Petraeus, married for 38 years, who resigned in the wake of an affair in the theater of war with his female biographer. Classified military information was found on her computer after an FBI investigation. The article bemoans the fact that Petraeus has "plenty of free time, and is ponder[ing] his next move. The article notes that Petraeus is used to a 'turbocharged schedule, motorcades,  secret military trips, the best invitations.' 

Petraeus himself admits that he "[messed] up royally." And yet, the subtext of the article is that the general's affair is like an inconvenient blip, preventing him from contributing to the nation, to an extent in keeping with his stature and abilities.

We saw similar rhetoric when former President Bill Clinton's intimate relationship with Monica Lewinsky was called "private". How was it private, when it occurred in the Oval Office, between the married President of the United States and a young staffer?

I certainly do not seek to judge these men, on these alleged instances, nor on the totality of their lives.
Only God can do that.

But, I do point out that a behavior being "secret" or "private" does not make it right. And if a man errs egregiously, it should not be ignored or excused, just because he has a high standing or has done great things. We may not want these episodes to have happened, but the Truth must be told. And there ought to be consequences.

I also point out that these men, like all of us, are fully human: capable of extraordinary contributions to our world, yet at times, deeply flawed. We all hope to become seamless Christians. We all fail at this.

These mens' lives are not "over", literally or figuratively. A faith-filled Christian will say that he is sorry to God and to those he has hurt. Then, he will pick himself up, and try to figure out how to make a positive difference in the world again.

"And let the endless bliss begin, when right shall triumph over wrong and Truth shall be extolled." [from the hymn, "The King Shall Come].

(c) Spiritual Devotional 2012. All Rights Reserved.