March 14: On Lying
♫ Music:
Day 18 - Saturday, March 14
Rung #12: ON LYING
Scripture: Colossians 3:5-10; Proverbs 28:13
Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him. He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.
Poetry:
Shall earth no more inspire thee
by Emily Brontë
Shall earth no more inspire thee,
Thou lonely dreamer now?
Since passion may not fire thee
Shall Nature cease to bow?
Thy mind is ever moving
In regions dark to thee;
Recall its useless roving—
Come back and dwell with me.
I know my mountain breezes
Enchant and soothe thee still—
I know my sunshine pleases
Despite thy wayward will.
When day with evening blending
Sinks from the summer sky,
I’ve seen thy spirit bending
In fond idolatry.
I’ve watched thee every hour;
I know my mighty sway,
I know my magic power
To drive thy griefs away.
Few hearts to mortals given
On earth so wildly pine;
Yet none would ask a heaven
More like this earth than thine.
Then let my winds caress thee;
Thy comrade let me be—
Since nought beside can bless thee,
Return and dwell with me.
ON LYING
If I’m being completely honest, my rate of lying probably matches the American average of about 11 lies per week (Kelly, et al, 2012). In fact, like in my previous sentence, many of my statements are prefaced with “to be honest,” which can call into question the veracity of my other statements.
Looking back, my first lie was probably either denying that I had made my little brother cry (but he hit me first!) or had eaten forbidden cookies before supper (but I was hungry!). No doubt, my first lies were lies of commission – making flat out untrue statements, operating on Kohlberg’s lowest stage of moral development: avoidance of being punished. And early on I learned to justify my lies, in order to try to avoid the emotional pain of shame and embarrassment, and the possible risk of making my parents so angry at me that they wouldn’t love me anymore. In time, I also mastered lies of omission (“I didn’t lie, I just didn’t tell you”) and classic prosocial lies (“no, those jeans don’t make you look fat”).
One of the many ways that lying harms us may be seen in Emmanuel Garibay’s painting “The Passenger.” All but one of the passengers are separated from each other by their masks with Pinocchio-like noses. Masks have many functions. One function is impression management (“if I only show you my good parts, then you will be impressed by me”); another is self-protection (“if you really knew me, you wouldn’t like me”); and another is a bid for power and control (“if I know more about you than you know about me, that puts me in a position of power”). Lies and the masks woven by them harm our ability to connect with God and each other in meaningful, life-giving ways.
The opposite is true with honesty. Honesty increases our ability to connect with God and each other in meaningful, life-giving ways. Anita E. Kelly and her team from the University of Notre Dame empirically supported three important things in their 2012 study on lying: 1) participants could purposefully and dramatically reduce their everyday lies, 2) a reduction in their everyday lies was associated with significantly improved health and interpersonal relationships, and 3) this improvement in relationships significantly accounted for the improvement in health. When we dare to be honest before God and each other, to take off our marks, in the words of Emily Bronte, we can return and dwell, and be blessed.
Believing who we are in Christ -- loved, with everything known; loved, even before we were forgiven – give us the courage to be completely honest. A symbol of the radical truth that nothing that we can do can ever cause God to love us any more or any less is the crucifix –the very posture of the lone passenger in Garibay’s painting without a mask. Christ modeled living an honest life and now empowers us to live lives without lies and masks.
Prayer:
As the author, Dallas Willard was said to have prayed every morning, Lord, keep me from lying.
Amen
Nancy Crawford
Associate Professor of Psychology
Director of Clinical Training
Biola University
For more information about the artwork, music, poetry, and devotional writer selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
To learn more about the themes of this year’s Lent Project, please go to:
https://ccca.biola.edu/lent/2020/#day-feb-25
About the Art:
The Passenger
Emmanuel R. Garibay
2008
Oil on canvas
41.5” x 32”
From the Charis: Boundary Crossings Exhibition
Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity
In The Passenger, artist Emmanuel Garibay issues a powerful indictment against religious (and political) leaders who fail to attend to their responsibilities in addressing the needs of the people and institutions for which they are responsible. The crucified figure riding in the bus could be Christ or any one of the victims of that failure. Garibay’s concerns for justice and accountability are palpable, reflecting his first-hand knowledge of the corruption that runs rampant in his native Philippines. But beyond this, Garibay is deeply interested in the structural injustice that exists within the economic systems of the world. His work as an artist challenges the viewer to see the multiplicity of factors that drive both the individual human heart and institutions to allow it to continue. He challenges our complacency and reveals the hypocrisy of looking the other way. According to Garibay, “The Pinocchio noses of the masks denote deception; that the men [seated on the bus] are wearing clerical collars hint at some kind of accountability to the crucified figure.” Significantly, his mouth has been erased to suggest that he has no voice or has been effectively silenced. The other “passengers” appear oblivious to his presence or plight, despite the bright light above that sheds light on the scene.
About the Artist:
Emmanuel Garibay was born the son of a Methodist preacher in the Philippines in 1962. He earned his B.A. in Fine Arts from the University of the Philippines and his M.A. in Divinity from the Union Theological Seminary. He is known for his expressionist style and his social activism. His depictions of poor, ordinary people, often in political and religious settings, present questions about justice and social complexity. He has received awards from the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the Arts Association of the Philippines and Il Bienal del Baloncestoen Bellas Artes in Madrid, Spain. Garibay has had solo exhibitions in the Philippines, the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel and Indonesia, and has served as President of the Association of Christian Asian Art (ACAA).
https://www.omsc.org/artistgaribay
https://imagejournal.org/article/recognizing-the-stranger/
About the Music:
“Blessed Are the Poor” from the album Live at the Philharmone
About the Composer:
Dave Brubeck and Gerry Mulligan
About the Performer:
Dave Brubeck (1920-2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Many of his compositions have become jazz standards including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke.” His music is known for employing unusual time signatures as well as superimposing contrasting rhythms, meters, and tonalities. After his discharge from military service in 1946, he enrolled at Mills College in Oakland, California, to study composition with French composer Darius Milhaud who encouraged him to pursue a career in jazz. In 1951, Dave formed the Dave Brubeck Quartet with alto saxophonist Paul Desmond. Throughout his career Brubeck continued to experiment with interweaving jazz and classical music. He performed as a composer-performer with most of the major orchestras in the United States and with prestigious choral groups and orchestras in Europe. Throughout his long career Brubeck received many national and international honors, including the National Medal of the Arts from President Clinton, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Smithsonian Medal, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In the year 2000 the National Endowment for the Arts declared Brubeck a “Jazz Master.” He was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2007 he received a Living Legacy Jazz Award from the Kennedy Center and the Arison Award from the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts. In 2009, Brubeck was honored to receive the prestigious Kennedy Center Award, which President Barack Obama bestowed on him on his 89th birthday.
http://davebrubeck.com/about/biography/
Gerald Joseph Mulligan (1927–1996) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer, and arranger. Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading jazz baritone saxophonists – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz – he was also a significant arranger, working with Claude Thornhill, Miles Davis, Stan Kenton, and others. Several of his compositions, such as "Walkin' Shoes" and "Five Brothers,” have become jazz standards. Regarded as the most influential baritone saxophonist in jazz, Mulligan played a pivotal role in developing the "cool jazz" sound and significantly contributed to the West Coast jazz scene.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Mulligan
https://www.npr.org/programs/jazzprofiles/archive/mulligan.html
About the Poet:
Emily Brontë (1818–1848) was an English novelist and poet who is best known for authoring the novel Wuthering Heights. Emily Jane Brontë lived a quiet life in Yorkshire with her clergyman father, brother Branwell Brontë, and her two sisters, Charlotte and Anne. It was only after Brontë's death that Wuthering Heights developed its reputation as a literary masterwork. Interest in Brontë's work and life remains strong today, though she still remains an enigma largely due to her solitary and reclusive nature. The parsonage where Brontë spent much of her life is now a museum. The Brontë Society operates the museum and works to preserve and honor the work of the Brontë sisters.
https://www.biography.com/writer/emily-bronte
https://www.bronte.org.uk/about-us
About the Devotion Writer:
Nancy Crawford, Psy.D.
Associate Professor of Psychology
Director of Clinical Training
Rosemead School of Psychology
Biola University
Nancy Crawford, Psy.D., serves as the Director of Clinical Training at Rosemead School of Psychology, and as a former missionary, is involved whenever possible in providing care to missionaries and their families. She is an avid morning walker who is always on the lookout for a bird species she has not seen before.