The national debate and beauty contest that passes for a Presidential campaign now moves into high gear.  There have been more debates than I can remember, greater hyperbole than usual and more money than the gross national product of whole nations spent on air brushing mere mortals for Olympus.

It is wearying and yet I know that these people are no different than me or anyone else they just do it in public.  How hard it is to tell the truth to ourselves. We always give us the benefit of the doubt — and we always take exception with the other. It is not something that we have a choice about really. Oh we can hope to do better and try really hard but even then we will fall far short of the glory of the Holy One.

As The Duc de la Rochefoucauld said, “Hypocrisy is a tribute which vice pays to virtue.”  That is a cynical and hard saying certainly, but I am not so sure that the hypocrite started out to wear a mask of virtue while practicing vice. I think that folk set out to do the good and wound up doing well for themselves instead. Even then having done well they still want the good house-keeping seal of approval.  For we all want our ease and our virtue. But having had it we can’t bear to tell ourselves that we did the nasty with expediency. And there you have it.

We can’t save ourselves and we are hardly willing to accept a savior. So we are miserable.  But having said that Jesus makes us an offer that we can indeed refuse casue he’s that kind of God, but we will get no better offer.