Character. Conscience. Consequence. Courage. Everyone loves a good alliteration--the consistent sound of one letter followed by different combinations which help to link seemingly separate words together.
As the bloggers met at the end of last year to choose a general theme around which we would write in this new year, the conversation meandered as it often does. For those who are more linear thinkers these conversations might cause distress. But it really is a conversation that flows naturally until someone realizes that we need to center the conversation on a theme and we are able to summarize the important pieces from our conversational puzzle.
As we meandered, we were reflecting on the end of one year and the start of another. We talked about the level of uneasiness in the world today between winners and losers in sports, in life, in politics and even in church. The struggle to look into the future with optimism is often a struggle in this season when the daylight is short and the night long. For some it feels particularly bleak.
We observed the differences in individual’s behaviors and public rhetoric. We pondered the troubling challenges in finding common strands of truth and the disparate valuation placed on truth in our world today. We observed that there can even be more than one truth that coexists in the same event as experienced by different people.
The conversation was happening in the midst of Advent and so in our own faith communities we had worshipped around the themes of peace and hope and anticipated joy and love. That season of waiting and yearning for signs of the presence of the divine in the world set the stage for our meander.
Our Mental and Moral Qualities
As we considered what it is that we need in the new year, four words crystallized for the group. What we value is the quality of those in the world who relate to the world from a place of good character. We are not talking here about a character in a story, but to use the definition from the Oxford dictionary, “the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual”. Perhaps this is related to a person acting and behaving from a place of authenticity. We are each created in the image of God. And so, how do we recognize those things which make us distinctive, individual, valued and beloved?
Our Inner Guide
Closely related to the concept of character is that of conscience. This perhaps was raised in the conversations because several of us shared that when we awake in the night, we struggle at times with the effects which our own behavior and words have created in the world. But this anxiety can be soothed a bit when we know that those actions and words were consciously shared with good intent.
But when we act and speak words that come from a place of harm, violence or hate, our conscience may question over and over why we did what we did. We may question the extent of harm that we may have caused. To live with a conscience is an opportunity to reflect on those things which are past, learn from those experiences and do better the next time all through the lens of what we value most.
The Results
All of which leads us to the idea of consequence. When we were young there were likely consequences to our words and actions as our parents taught us about the realities of the reactions even in relationships. These consequences were most likely seen as punishments. For some there is the concept of learning from the natural consequences from choices we make. For instance, even though my mother told me the iron was hot, I didn’t believe her (The iron didn’t “look” hot!). I chose to place my palm on the hot plate. I don’t believe she punished me because the pain from the burn was enough to convince me to think hard about not believing her again in the future! The pain or punishment from my actions was enough.
Strength Despite Obstacles
And finally, courage is the fourth piece coming into this mosaic which the bloggers will be writing in the coming weeks. Not only definitions of what courage is, but how do we approach new situations with which we have little experience. For instance, how does my current stage of life free me or restrain me from previous responses in similar situations? During some of the protests in 2020 in Oregon it was older women who were at the front of the group coming face to face with the police. Did those grandmothers have the courage to take action because of their life experience or because they felt the risks of being arrested were not as great as they were in earlier points in their life? What is courage and how do we muster it in our own lives?
Character, Conscience, Consequence and Courage are the words we have chosen to spark our own thinking between new year’s and the start of Lent. During this time there will be a transition of leadership in our country. There will be the transition of seasons with daylight once again elongating and bringing us to perhaps the first signs of spring. There will be other transitions of life—birthdays and the opportunity to perhaps celebrate the lives of loved ones no longer in our midst. There will be transitions for some who may start a new job and for others the conclusion of their career. May our awareness of these four C’s, provide us with the fertile ground for our own contemplation and reflection needed in these coming weeks.
For Reflection (either individually or with a group)
Read the blog. Read it a second time, maybe reading it aloud or asking someone else to read it aloud so you can hear it with different intonation and emphases. Invite the Divine to open your heart to allow the light of new understanding to pierce the shadows of embedded assumptions, stereotypes, and ways of thinking so that you may live more abundantly.
Download a pdf including the Reflection Questions to share and discuss with friends, family, or members of your faith community small group.