​DOING THE RIGHT THING

It is where the rubber hits the road. That might be one way of describing the subject of morality and ethics when it comes to the Christian faith. Faith is lived out in the daily decisions we make about everything. How and where we spend our money are moral and ethical decisions. The way I treat others, from co-workers to neighbors, and the way I raise my children, are all exercises in moral and ethical decision making – doing the right thing. For a Christian, the ground from which our morals and ethics grow is the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Doing the right thing is doing the Jesus thing.

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That said, there are many other soils we can cultivate to produce our decisions about what is right and wrong. For much of human history the soil has had some sense of a shared vision of good. Moral decisions were guided by common values. An over-arching story about where we came from and where we were going linked us together in a mutual pursuit of the “good” and a rejection of the “bad.” Christian faith, Jewish faith, or some other shared narrative collectively held the keys to doing the right thing.

We do not, however, live in that kind of world anymore. The common vision that directed the self outward toward a shared vision where we could find purpose and meaning has been replaced by the triumph of self over community. The community exists only to provide a kind of therapeutic guide to what I might, or might not, do. The result, as Alasdair MacIntyre wrote in his book After Virtue, is that we have “lost our comprehension, both theoretical and practical, of morality.” That book ends with a warning that our current path of morality, driven by individualism, self-interest and a collapse of collective understanding of things like truth and fairness, will lead us to “coming ages of barbarism and darkness.” I think we have arrived.

What passes for moral and ethical deliberation today is centered on “happiness” and a kind of anarchical freedom that rejects rules and refuses to be told what is right or wrong by anyone. Sheryl Crow sings in her satirical song about this kind of living “If it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad.” Except we don’t see the satire, that Crow is poking fun at this kind of decision making. We think she is promoting this moral framework – happiness is all that matters. She is not.

The late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, in his book, Morality, identifies our despair, confusion, and the search for happiness that finds no joy as results of our bankrupt morals and ethics. Yet, he hopes. He hopes because there is an essential humanity buried under the debris that comes from not knowing right from wrong anymore. There is a humanity planted within that is divine in nature.

Sacks writes: “Love your neighbor. Love the stranger. Hear the cry of the otherwise unheard. Care for the dignity of all. Let those who have more than they need share their blessings with those who have less. Feed the hungry, house the homeless, and heal the sick in body and mind. Fight injustice, whoever it is done by and whoever it is done against. And do these things because, being human, we are bound by a covenant of human solidarity, whatever our color or culture, class or creed. These are moral principles, not economic or political ones. They have to do with conscience, not wealth or power. But without them, freedom will not survive.”

The anxiety we bear as we live in this chaotic world is a result of having the rubber no longer hitting the road. We are flying to our destruction. It is time to find our moral compass again and set out to live a faith where the rubber meets the road.

Pax Christi – Tim Olson, Lead Pastor
 
 
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