Accountability & “All Praise and Glad Thanksgiving”
A lot of us have a complicated relationship with the word “accountability.” In our hyper-individualist society, many of us grow up believing we are accountable only to ourselves, and to whatever version of God we have inevitably created in our own image. When someone else does something bad, it’s not our fault and it’s not our problem—unless, of course, it is so bad that it breaks a law, and in that case, it’s off to prison with the offender (assuming they’re found guilty, of course) or to the travails of internet justice.
This is strikingly different from the image of just accountability that today’s readings present to us. Rather than ignoring someone’s harmful behavior or flying off immediately to report it to the authorities, both the first reading from Ezekiel (Ez. 33:7-9) and the Gospel of Matthew (Mt. 18:15-20) give detailed instructions on how it is the responsibility of every community member to—lovingly—hold their neighbors accountable for their actions. When we see wrongdoing happening around us, we are tasked by God to intervene: not just to stop the harm from being done, but also to bring our neighbor back into right relationship with the community. We don’t have to do it alone: Jesus invites us to appeal to friends and family for help. But we do have to do it. Otherwise, we become bystanders, bearing real responsibility of our own for the harm we chose not to stop.
So how do we honor these readings’ insistence on accountability without becoming cruel, pedantic, and hypocritical? Jesus tells us: If calling in our neighbors to seek justice doesn’t work, don’t dig in our heels; treat them like Gentiles or tax collectors. And how did Jesus treat Gentiles and tax collectors? He befriended them. He dined with them. He healed them. He spoke to them and listened to them. It’s a clever way to teach his disciples into loving people harder. There will be times when maintaining firm boundaries is necessary to stay safe, especially if we are the ones being harmed. But we are not called to give up on each other, or on ourselves, or on the very real and ever-present possibility of redemptive love. Real love, which “does no evil to the neighbor,” as St. Paul tells us today, and therefore “is the fulfillment of the law.”
This weekend, we would like to share our latest video, "All Praise and Glad Thanksgiving", a beautiful hymn normally sung in honour of the Holy Trinity and for general praise and thanksgiving. Sung to the German hymn tune of "Gott Vater, sei gepriesen", it's melody is easily recognizable to congregations around the world.
Video can be watched by clicking here or on the picture below:
