Are Church-Goers Wise or Good?
+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
24 Aug 2003
Both groups believed that world peace, honesty and sincerity and then true friendship were the three most important values. Mass attenders had social justice fourth and courtesy fifth. Non-attenders ranked them in the reverse order.
But three values considered important by the Church attenders, meaning in life, wisdom and being helpful to others were not listed in the top ten by the non-attenders. Why the differences?
Regular Christian worship not only fulfils our duties to the one true God, but also reinforces and indeed changes our point of view on many issues of faith and morals. The fact that we often don’t notice what is going on does not make it less important or real in our lives.
Especially today very few Christians who are regular worshippers are hypocrites: i.e. people whose values are radically different in private from what they profess in public. Today there are few public advantages from attending Sunday Church services. Indeed young Christians, sometimes even in Church schools, can be mocked for such attendance.
We are all, every one of us, mixed bundles of rational and irrational instincts, of altruistic and selfish tendencies. No one is born good, wise or faithful. Especially when young we need good mentors, love, good example and sound teaching to enter successfully into the long internal struggle to curb our baser nature so that our basic goodness, the divine spark in each one of us become more and more dominant.
This is where regular worship in a community generally helps, providing the reinforcement that is needed for our particular beliefs to remain vital, so we don’t succumb to the lowest common values around us.
People should not feel guilty simply because they are tempted to be selfish or evil. Neither are these inner drives reasons for self-congratulation, but they are not sinful when we resist. They are useful reminders of the frailty of our human nature, of the importance of not being over confident about our ability to be good in times of pressure. Useful sermons and regular prayer remind us of God’s strength and our vulnerability.
The awareness of this interplay of good and evil in our heart of hearts is essential if we are to find meaning in life, and understand the foundational Old Testament teaching about the nature of wisdom. Many Christians today do not like this teaching that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps 111.10 & Prov 1.7).
Some delude themselves into believing that God is tolerant, that he will put up with everything from lazy unbelief to hurting others. Weekly worship gives us a mirror to examine our souls, to learn self knowledge and recognise God in others.
