6th Easter Decision to Choose Love

Decision making…not always the easiest thing to do or accomplish. And that is just on our own and what we want for breakfast, or whether we give into the dark side and place pineapple on our pizza (Don’t!).  Then add in decision making with a group of people over something that becomes more important and has an effect on even more people…

Remember the series “The Good Place”? It was a brilliant show on so many levels. One level was about ethics and how we make choices and live them out. Chidi, the professional ethicist of the group, used to be paralyzed in his decision making because he would go through all the possible outcomes but never be able to make a decision. It was in part why he was not actually not sent to “the Good place.” Spoiler alert.

How do we make decisions? What forms the basis of our ethics? Our morality? Probably most of us have never thought about it, yet we all have a system of ethics. We become inculcated in a system as children, passed along through our family values and ideals, those of the society that is around us, our culture. We absorb it, for better or worse, but we do not always become conscious of it, until we face a dilemma.

The classic dilemma, we are on a runaway trolley. On the tracks ahead of us are 5 people, and if we do nothing the trolley will run into them and kill them; we can hit a switch that will move onto another track, but on that track is one person, and that person will be killed. What do we do? Let circumstances kill 5, or do we choose to kill one to save the five? (btw, it is in essence unanswerable)

How do we continue to live as family? What values will be passed along to our children? How will we live as parish, as church? How we will come to decisions that will move us forward?

Around 15-20 years after Jesus’ Resurrection and Ascension the Disciples faced a major decision. The efforts of Paul and others to the Gentiles had been successful. Gentiles wanted to become part of the Christian community. They believed in who Jesus was and what he taught, and the life of being a follower of Jesus.  However, there was no such thing as an independent Christian community at the time. The Christians were Jews who believed in Jesus as the Messiah. Therefore some of the leaders thought that the Gentiles needed to convert to Judaism and follow the Mosaic law as part of their being part of the community. This meant men had to become circumcised and that women had to have their husbands become Jewish if they wanted to join. What to do? Jesus did not leave a clear precise protocol for this.  So the disciples gathered. They debated. They prayed. They reflected on Jesus’ teachings, they opened themselves to the Spirit; they saw the good that was being done through God in the Gentiles without virtue of following the Mosaic law, and thought who were they to impose and limit them. They decided to welcome them in because of their love for Christ and willingness to express that love. They decided to act because of something greater than themselves.

This decision to welcome changed the fabric of the community and opened people up to the Good News of Jesus Christ, which was the mission that Jesus gave to them. This Mission that Jesus willing died for. The same mission by which the Father raised Jesus up for.

Our ethics, our morality always will be based on Jesus Christ, on the wisdom that we discern from him through Scripture and through our Tradition. It will not always be easy, but it can bear much fruit.

In Christ, we choose to create community, an inclusive one, not an exclusive country club.  In Christ, we choose to welcome and walk with each; raising each other up.  In Christ we choose to forgive and heal; we choose to be generous and kind.

We come to the core of Jesus' mission; God’s great and infinite love for all persons and God’s desire for all people to know this.

When we have decisions as families, as parish and as church, we base our values, our choices upon those. It may mean we have to give of ourselves for that greater good; again as Jesus did. It may mean it will not necessarily be what “I” want, but we can live with the good that it will bring.  It means that we look beyond the short term gains and our own emotional reactions, to see something that can be possible.

When two people agree to marry they decide to place aside one way of life to create a family, and go into an unknown future; but they do it together.

When two people make a baby, they decide to place aside their way of life to accept the little ones, and go into an unknown future, but now with more life and love in it.

When a man or woman agrees to commit to a religious life, they decide to put aside one way of life for something that can benefit the good of so many others.

Love forms the basis of those decisions, those commitments; love conquers all those fears of the unknown, of the changes.

And to be fortified, fed in that love, we celebrate the Eucharist. We come to remember who is the source of our goodness, God.  We come to remember that God’s love defines us; not anything else.  We come to celebrate Jesus’ own love for us; and how he gave of himself for the good of all; not just a select group.

And we go forth to live good lives. We go to make decisions that bring life for the many; we go to choose to love.