Personal Integrity
Stephen Covey and his book “Everyday Greatness”
speaks of personal integrity
—he gives a definition of integrity
“when our actions match our words and
when our behaviors match our values.”
As Christians, we call ourselves
to a high level of personal integrity.
We are called to do the right thing
for the right reasons at the right time.
Stephen Covey uses a great example
about personal integrity and ethics;
There was once a father and son out fishing in the lake;
they were fishing all day and it was now late in the evening.
Then the son pulls in what was
the largest Bass they had ever seen.
He hauls in this massive Bass.
Then the father gets a flashlight, looks at his watch
and he sees that it is 10:10pm at night.
And he says to his son,
“We have to let it go back because
the Bass fishing season does not begin until midnight.”
The son looks at him and says,
“You’re kidding me.”
And the father says, “No. Let it go.”
The son protests and says,
“But no one is watching; no one will know.”
And the father says, “But we would know. Let it go.”
And they let it go.
The son, 34 years later, continues to use that event
as an occasion to remind himself of personal ethics;
to do the right thing no matter who is watching
and no matter who will know.
That is what you and I are called to as Christians
—to do the right thing at the right time,
regardless of who is watching.
It is similar to driving at 3am in the morning
and there is a red light without another car in sight in any direction;
who among us isn’t tempted to just go through.
But there is something inside of us that says,
“No. No. I ought not to do that.”
Not because I cannot get away with it,
but because it is not the right thing to do.
That is what we are called to.
There are lots of times in our lives
when we find ourselves at critical decision points in our life.
We have to make a choice and
often times those choices will never be known to others
one way or the other
but we will know what choice we make, good or bad.
If we constantly give in to bad choices
then something inside of us sort of dies.
But if we constantly choose the better choice,
then we become a little bit bigger each time within ourselves.
Our personal integrity grows.
If we are honest about our own lives
we know we have failed at some point in our lives.
Despite us coming around this altar this morning,
agreeing on those personal ethics and
agree about doing the right thing at the right time,
we all at times fail to do the right thing at the right time;
somewhere along the line on some occasion,
we know we have failed because the idea is so hard,
especially as Christians since the ideal is so hard,
we do on occasion fail.
Then the question is what do we do when that happens?
We ought to do is to admit our mistakes,
to pick up ourselves and to go out again.
In today’s first reading, we have this very example.
David, who is our great ancestor in the faith made a mistake;
it was no small mistake here.
David lusted after one of his soldier’s wives
and took her for himself.
And to cover his tracks,
he had the soldier murdered so nobody would know.
This was no small mistake.
This was a planned and pre-meditated decision.
But then the Prophet Nathan comes along and challenges David.
Instead of being defensive and doing what he could do as King
—is to have Nathan killed
—and then cover his tracks with that, he said,
“No. You are absolutely right.”
He turns to the Lord then and says,
“Lord forgive me for what I have done,”
and moves on then with personal integrity
for the rest of his reign as King.
In other words, in our own lives,
we find we do make mistakes.
Sometimes they are small, little ones
but sometimes they are big whoppers
and we have to find a way to say I’m sorry,
to make amends and then to move on;
to ask for forgiveness and to realize that we do make mistakes.
But often times we are so hard on ourselves
that we dump on ourselves and that disables us from going on.
There is a great quote from Aldous Huxley
who wrote the classic novel, “Brave New World.”
“Chronic remorse is the most undesirable sentiment.
We are better off acknowledging one’s weaknesses,
making amends as best as one can,
and then getting on with our life.
Rolling in the muck does not help us get clean.”
If we make mistakes, which we do,
we need to acknowledge what they are,
ask for forgiveness, make amends,
and get on with life again trying harder and harder.
If we are willing to do that for ourselves
then we need to be willing to do that for others.
That is what today’s gospel is about:
Simon the Pharisee has Jesus into his house for dinner
and he is sort of proud that he has Jesus inside his house.
But he sees a sinful woman and he says,
“Wait a second; she shouldn’t be here at all; she is sinful.”
But the whole idea is that Jesus came to save sinners
and he wants us to be one with them,
whether it is a person of great sin or a little sin;
in his mind it doesn’t matter.
We are all called to be saved.
We are all then called to give others the opportunity to recover;
to give others the opportunity to make amends
and then to get on with life again.
In other words, we are called to forgive one another.
I am not saying for a moment that it is easy.
It is not. It is very hard.
We need to forgive ourselves for the mistakes we make,
make amends and get on with our lives again.
We also need to be willing to forgive others their mistakes,
let them make amends and then let’s get on with it.
That is what today’s gospel is about;
that is what our whole Christian faith is about
—it is to ask for forgiveness to forgive others
and to live life to the fullest.
It is not easy work, but we need to remember
that when we come to church on Sunday
we come to seek strength from one another,
not as some saintly group but as sinners, common in our sin.
Yes. Maybe different sins
but we come to seek strength from one another.
Remember that the church is not a museum for saints
but is instead a hospital for sinners.
We come together around this Eucharist each Sunday
to remind ourselves that yes we have made mistakes
and yes others have made mistakes;
we come to ask for forgiveness
and then to go forth from here to forgive others.
So, today, let us be challenged by our own personal ethics;
to aspire to the right ethics ourselves
but then also to inspire others
with the way we live our ethics by forgiving one another.
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[1] As quoted by Patricia Datchuck Sanchez, “Celebration: An Ecumenical Worship Resource,” (Kansas City, Missouri: National Catholic Reporter Company, Inc., June 13, 2010).
