Decency

September 26, 2018

“Decently and in order.” That’s how worship is to be conducted, according to St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:40. The church in Corinth had gotten out of control in their demonstrations of their spiritual gifts, with rich people disrespecting the poor, their fellowship dinners turning into drunken spectacles, and church fights threatening not only the unity, but the survival of the fledgling congregation.

In these very last words of his letter (last words are important, you know), he first mentions common decency. It’s not bad advice for life in general. We are witnessing the collapse of decency in public life. Movies are increasingly violent and sexually explicit, social media is a wasteland of obscenity and virulent assault against people the perpetrators have never even met, and the political arena has become a vile circus of grandstanding and posturing, all in the name of openness, but in reality, for raw power.

Decent men and women are vilified and subjected to a secular Inquisition simply because they don’t follow the correct doctrine of the political machine. And when decency dies, so does order. Chaos follows on its heels.

I’ve been working on my son’s bathroom remodel. We all would like it to be done yesterday, but there is an order to the process that if not followed, leads to chaos and destruction. I’m an amateur, so every step I take, I have to think through. I haven’t done this enough to have it come second nature to me. If I get the process out of order, parts of what I’ve already accomplished have to be torn out and redone. 

If I want a decent (let alone outstanding) outcome, I have to follow this order: tear out the old, fix the foundational damage, shim walls and ceiling, run wiring and plumbing, insulate, then drywall, floor, and fixtures. But sometimes the expected order isn’t what is called for. Just tonight it occurred to me that I’ll need to backtrack on one segment if it’s going to turn out right. Decently and in order seems dull and pedantic until things don’t turn out right when this rule is ignored. I am grateful tonight for this Scriptural wisdom, pray that I’ll apply it in all areas of my life, and that we might see a restoration of it in public life.