1. Peter Fitch, St. Croix Vineyard Sunday, January 8, 2017
One True Voice
Peter Fitch, St. Croix Vineyard
Sunday, January 8, 2017

2. Language of the Heart, David Wilcox

3. What a concept . . .
Words as one way of speaking; the heart as another
Made me think about one of the tasks that we all share: to learn how to speak the truth with our whole beings, to present to the world one true voice

4. Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, Scene 3
Polonius: This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. Farewell, my blessing season this in thee! Laertes: Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord.

5. Story of David Relationship with Bathsheba
Murder of her husband, Uriah the Hittite
Confrontation by Nathan
Psalm 51 (traditional understanding)

6. Psalm 51
1 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against You, You only, I have sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak, and blameless when You judge.

7. Psalm 51
6 Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom. 7 Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8  Make me to hear joy and gladness, Let the bones which You have broken rejoice. 9 Hide Your face from my sins And blot out all my iniquities.

8. Psalm 51
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And sustain me with a willing spirit. 16 For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

9. One way to achieve inner truth
Relentless honesty about our own failings
Confession, homologeo—same-saying
Taking the log out of our own eye before we attempt to remove someone else’s splinter

10. Another way: taking stock
Gradual growth in self-awareness
Socrates: “the unexamined life is not worth living”
It’s a journey, learning who we are . . .
A graduate student of mine shared with me an exercise from a creative writing class she had done: I am from . . .

11. Another way
Acceptance, learning not to take ourselves so seriously, appreciating our whole self, both the good and the bad
Learning to laugh at ourselves
Learning to live with the imperfections
Learning to point forward rather than backward

12. Perhaps the best way: 1 John 3:18-22
18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. 19 We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him 20 in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.

13. Process of cleansing, Process of giving
Psalm 51 focuses on cleansing us from our sins and failings
1 John mentions this but focuses on learning to love
One is like taking a necessary bath
The other is like showing up at the party with a present for everyone you meet
Inward/Outward
Love is the greatest demonstration that we are becoming more truthful in our inner being

14. Warmth of Your Eyes, Lazarus