Punching Holes in the Darkness
Schadenfreude. When the history is written about our time, it may be one of the terms most used to describe our culture. The German language is so good at packing a surplus of meaning into a single word, and schadenfreude does just that. It means “to take pleasure in the misfortune of others.” And my goodness, in our contemporary world we are good at that. Like piranha, we await word of the misstep of someone, and as soon as the news is received the feeding frenzy begins. It need not matter if the unfortunate person is culpable or not, or even friend or foe. We live in what has been termed an “outrage culture,” and we are all too ready to shake our heads with a satisfied grimace and an “I knew it would happen sooner or later” sentiment when even our own former heroes fall from grace.
Biblical scholar and Anglican bishop N.T. Wright says that we exercise schadenfreude’s opposite, too. Namely, we “murmur at one another’s forgiveness.” Somehow, it has become not enough that our culture revels in both the justified and unjustified misfortune of other people. Many also believe that condemnation should be eternal, that, for offenses of any degree, there should be no redemption, that the desert into which people are cast should span the globe and their lives.
Where have we gotten these ideas? Where does our culture’s schadenfreude originate? Certainly not in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For Jesus, undeserved misfortune is always an opportunity for healing. When circumstances beyond one’s control cause someone to be cast out, unable to provide for one’s family, or in otherwise dire straits, Jesus always steps in as advocate for the voiceless.
But Jesus goes much further. When he encounters those who are culpable, who deserve to fall from grace — whether that be Zacchaeus the defrauder or the murderous bandit next to Jesus on the cross — rather than levying satisfied words of condemnation, Jesus offers avenues of grace. He knows that even willful wrongdoing includes a confused darkness in the soul, and he provides a ribbon of light that leads back to life for those who will follow it.
Perhaps Jesus’ most frequently uttered phrase is “Your sins are forgiven.” Jesus doesn’t offer cheap grace; his redemption always requires acknowledgement of truth and amendment of life. But Jesus never, ever expresses schadenfreude, and he never withholds forgiveness.
Of course, like Jesus, we must always seek justice. We are called to be the vanguard of God’s kingdom and to labor and live in the world in such a way that God’s kingdom breaks into reality. But schadenfreude is never kingdom work. Journalist Nicholas Kristoff asked in a column several years ago, “Are we in the heating business or the lighting business?” There is already plenty of metaphorical heat in our world. We surely don’t need to add to it. There is not, however, enough light.
There is a story about a young Robert Louis Stevenson, who was a sickly child. One evening in the 1850s Stevenson sat at the window and watched the lamplighter make his way down his London street lighting the gas lamps at murky dusk. “What are you doing?” asked Stevenson’s grandmother. And with bated breath the future poet replied, “I’m watching a man punch holes in the darkness.”
Let us be as the lamplighter: not taking pleasure at others’ misfortune, not withholding forgiveness from those who have fallen, and not injecting heat into an already overheated world. Let us seek justice, and take joy in redemption, and punch holes in the darkness so that our world shines a little brighter.
Worship Schedule for Sunday, September 6
This Sunday, September 6, our worship services will be live-streamed. Please join us from your home for Holy Eucharist, Rite I, at 11 a.m.; La Santa Eucaristía, Rito II, a la 1:00 p.m.; and The Well, Celtic Eucharist, at 5 p.m. We will not worship in-person this week due to COVID-19 conditions in Houston.
We encourage parishioners to watch together on Facebook Live, where a Cathedral priest will be available to communicate with you during the service and take prayer requests, or on our website at the links above. We will monitor conditions weekly, and as soon as we are able to return to in-person worship, we will do so.
Supporting the Cathedral
Even as we worship from home, the Cathedral is engaged in ministry. Our pastoral care, outreach, worship, and program ministries of the Cathedral carry on, and supporting Cathedral ministries is as important as ever. You can make your offering in any of these ways:
· Visit the Cathedral Give page to find out the many ways you can support our church.
· Make an offering or give in other ways using PayPal.
· Text the word “Give” to 888-998-1634.
Grace and Peace,
The Very Reverend Barkley Thompson, Dean
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