By Rev. Donn

Ever hear a legend? A legend is not true but there is truth in it. For example, the story of George Washington and the cherry tree is a legend; it never happened but it lifted up George Washington as a man of virtue.

There is a legend about our word for ‘sincere’; it’s not true and it makes etymologists’ hair stand on end, but there’s some truth in it. Here’s the legend: The ancient Romans prized Greek sculptures but some of the statues would have cracks or gaps where the marble was missing. Some vendors would put wax in the cracks and gaps to make the statue look whole and perfect, but of course the wax was not marble and over time it would yellow and it would become apparent that the statue was not ‘authentic and whole.’ So honest vendors would mark their statues ‘sine’ for ‘without’ and ‘cera’ for wax. Without wax.

Sometimes we are tempted to fill in our cracks and gaps to pretend we are something we are not. But of course, over time, the cracks and gaps will show. One of the joys of the Christian life is we don’t have to pretend with God. God is fully aware of our gaps and our cracks and loves us anyway. The same can also be true in Christian community, we don’t have to pretend to be healthy, whole, and happy. We can admit there are places where we are broken and weak, we confess our faults and our failures, we share our struggles and defeats, acknowledge our wrongs and short-comings but we also share our journey. We share our small victories, the times when we did do the right thing, say the right thing, the times we took the right step.

Our word ‘sincerity’ is the virtue of one who communicates and acts with their thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and desires in a manner that is honest and genuine, and actually comes from the Latin word ‘sincerus’ which means ‘clean, pure.’

We are blessed that we don’t have to pretend because in Jesus Christ we have been made ‘clean and pure.’ We can speak and act in a way that is honest and ‘sincere’ because we love God and are thankful for God’s grace given to us in Jesus Christ. The truth of God’s grace sets us free to be ourselves, even with our gaps and our cracks, and in doing so, we not only show our gaps and our cracks, we also show our ‘sincerity,’ a virtue that is real because God’s grace is real.

 

God Bless, Donn