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On Being Honorable
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think
about such things.
Philippians 4:8
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I
have been thinking about the words honor and honorable lately. The
tenth anniversary of 9-11 reminded me of the bravery and honor of the
rescue workers willing to enter burning buildings. Recently,
Sergeant Dakota Meyer received the Medal of Honor for his bravery in
Afghanistan yet claimed he had not done anything worth special
recognition. (Sergeant
Meyer plunged into enemy fire, fighting his way into an ambush five
separate times over the course of six hours. He saved three dozen
Afghans and Americans, and recovered the bodies of four members of the
American military). Such actions bring to mind the virtue of honor and makes me ponder what exactly we mean by such an idea.
Honor and Honorable are
not words we hear very often these days. In fact, I am not sure we know
what the term means anymore. We see our governmental leaders and
political movements acting less than honorably when it comes to
fundraising and the divisive discourse which seems to be more about
advancing ones interest than finding a common good. In our economic
institutions, the concept of honor is all but lost in the all mighty
pursuit of the dollar rather than a commitment to such vague concepts
as truth and rightness. Even within our religious institutions, we do
not talk of honor as a way of life where we treat each other with the
respect and dignity we would hope for ourselves. Honor as a virtue has
lost much meaning in today’s world.
As
I think about what is honorable, I am not quite sure I have a handle on
what it means. For me, to be honorable involves extending grace to
others around me even those I might consider wrong and opposed to what
I believe. To be honorable involves a humility where my interests do
not come first but instead I have a commitment to something more than
myself. To be honorable is to do the right thing even though it might
cost me something. I am not sure I can fully define what quality of
character makes one honorable, but I do recognize it when I see it.
I
do know that Westminster Church was honorable when it offered its
building to the Madinah Islamic School this Fall. This was done not for
any reason other than it was the right and true and lovely and
admirable thing to do. We did this because this is who we are and what
we are called to be. I give thanks for this congregation and her
leadership willing to honor our Muslim brothers and sisters by
welcoming them in a time of need. I give thanks to God for each and everyone of you and honor your commitment to Christ.
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To God be the Glory!
Alex
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