2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2This morning we conclude our worship series on top ranked values among Americans. The international marketing firm GfK Custom Research has been doing this survey of values annually since 1997 and for the first time, honesty was ranked #1 with the long standing top value of family dropping to the #2 spot. 79% of Americans now say honesty is an extremely/very important value to them, a 10% increase since the inception of this study. Interestingly, Brazil is the only other country of the 30 surveyed that also ranked honesty as their top value.One need look no further than the newspaper to see what has been going on in Brazil over the past decade with dramatically escalating crime, political corruption, drug trafficking and homicide. The little boy caught in the seatbelt of a carjacked vehicle and dragged to his death through the streets of Rio de Janero this past week has brought out throngs clamoring for a more honest and peaceful society. Marketing analysts postulate that similar disenchantment with scandal and deceit in political, social, economic and religious arenas in the United States have left Americans also yearning for honesty to prevail in our lives. When we hear the word honesty it conjures all kinds of images from Pinocchio’s nose to George Washington’s cherry tree. In anticipation of this theme a number of you shared thoughts and stories:

•  One sent a quote from the Alcoholics Anonymous’ 12 step program Step 4 that makes “a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves”. It reads, “The best time to study human nature is when nobody else is present…one of the most difficult things in this world is to list one’s own faults. Few of us can be honest enough with ourselves, or have insight enough, to do it with any depth or breadth.”
•  One tells the awkward story of going to Disneyland and having their host who was paying intentionally underreport the ages of all the kids so they could save a few dollars on admission tickets.
•  Another tells about growing up here in Edina and watching a friend take the letters off the Creek Valley Elementary School sign and then denying such activity when asked by a teacher just minutes later.
•  Still another recalls a teenage prank when he and a few friends unbolted a Ronald McDonald statue from its pedestal and loaded it in a pick-up truck to take home for a souvenir. He didn’t connect at the time that his parents might inquire where it came from, nor did he anticipate the flood of guilt that would spur him to return the clown to its rightful home.
•  More seriously, others raise questions about what to do when honesty conflicts with other values like health, or self-esteem or family stability. Like, when is the right time to be completely truthful about a patient’s or loved one’s medical prognosis? Do psychological/behavioral diagnostic labels become self-fulfilling prophecy? How do parents communicate with children about their rationale for divorce?
•  Another of you bravely journaled the experience of discovering a spouse’s extramarital affair and how the pain of ongoing mistrust is almost more difficult to deal with than the indiscretion itself.
•  Still another of you writes, “It is so simple to omit a fact, enhance the truth or even invent a convenient fact, that most everyone has yielded to dishonesty from time to time. The result is always something less than a solid foundation for our personal relationships leaving them forever vulnerable to the winds of reality when the truth becomes known.”

 So relative and elusive is truth these days that a newly coined word has skyrocketed into our English vernacular over the past year. Time Magazine honored Stephen Colbert as one of the most influential people of 2006. In his debut broadcast on Comedy Central back in October 2005, Colbert introduced his word “truthiness”. Shortly thereafter, “truthiness” was chosen as the 16th Annual Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society. Earlier this month, the dictionary giant, Merriam-Webster released the results of its on-line survey for their “Word of the Year” award. “Truthiness” won again by an overwhelming 5 to 1 majority vote. “Truthiness” is a noun and is defined as “the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true.” Truthiness flies in the face of our passage from 2 Corinthians. In fact perceiving life and faith as they wished it to be, rather than as it really was, was threatening to tear apart that fledgling church at Corinth. Different groups were at odds with each other as they argued over who preached and practiced the real truth. In chapter 3:12-15 the apostle Paul likens this predicament to the story of Moses in the 34th chapter of the book of Exodus. After Moses communicated to the Israelites the truth of the Ten Commandments, he’d put a veil over his face to shield the Israelites from the startling vision of godliness. Moses would take off his veil and be fully self-revelatory only with God and then when he was back among the people; he’d partially conceal himself once again.Paul contends in 3:16 and following that with Christ, the veil is removed and with such self-revelation and honesty there is newfound freedom (3:17). The more we are honest with ourselves and others; the more we are truly transparent to whom we were created to be; the more fully we behold and reflect the Spirit of God (3:18). Chapter 4 verse 2 concludes with the admonition, “by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.” Such complete honesty that is the ultimate calling of our faith becomes more complicated as we seek to implement it in our daily life. Bruce Kramer, our director of Music Ministries reflects, “In my day job, I work with leaders and potential leaders. One of the questions that continually arises is the question of just how honest one should be. Invariably, there is someone in my ethics course who is revisiting a situation in which their level of honesty did not exactly coincide with their espoused beliefs about telling the truth. What I have found in my research with leaders is that honesty is important, but most seasoned leaders have adopted a practical approach to honesty, one that noted sociologist Alan Wolfe calls “honesty to a point.” It means that we situationally evaluate our degree of honesty based upon a variety of factors—the person or persons’ ability to appropriately handle the information, the possible shortcomings if the information is shared inappropriately, the possible consequences to us if what we say is repeated and attributed to us, etc. I have had ample opportunity to explore honesty within the leadership context, and that has led me to adopt a guiding question in matters where the path is not clear. Can you work a situation so that you can rise to a level of honesty that allows you to be authentic, but not be so honest as to commit career or relationship suicide? Most people in leadership positions learn that total honesty is not always the best policy, but lying is a very bad idea as well (you will invariably be found out, and your credibility will come into question). I guess that what this boils down to is that honesty is not as clean a value as we might have been led to believe as children, but it is important in maintaining our credibility as friends, partners, professionals, and our own integrity.”Wayne Christensen from our congregation offers these thoughts. “Honesty is a personal decision. In the various ethics classes I taught, the very first thing we talked about was that this class was not about changing anyone’s ethics. The purpose of the class was to discuss issues that could have several possible options as potential solutions and to refine a person’s ability to listen to other viewpoints, discuss their own and recognize that in many situations, there are shades of ethics/honesty. For example, a friend at work tells you, in confidence, that he has been looking for another job outside the company, he is now a finalist for that job, and he wants your opinion on whether he should take the job. Later that day, your boss tells you he has heard that your friend is looking for a job outside the company and asks if you know anything about this rumor. What do you say to the boss? Or, a person at your church tells you that he saw another person having lunch with the minister and that person must be having some family troubles. You know that is true, what do you say? In a booklet called The Power of Ethical Management, by Kenneth Blanchard and Norman Vincent Peale, there are three ethics check questions asked by the authors: 1. Is It Legal? (Will I be violating either civil law or company policy?) 2. Is It Balanced? (Is it fair to all concerned in the short term as well as the long term?) 3. How Will It Make Me Feel About Myself? (Would I feel good if others knew about my decision or action?) Mark Twain authored a very simple, yet thoughtful phrase pertaining to honesty, ‘If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.’ I believe that statement say’s it all.”This is Transfiguration Sunday, the transition from Epiphany, the worship season of light and revelation to Lent, the worship season of reflection and introspection and a fitting time to reflect on the theme of honesty. Honesty is not just the “Top American Value” it’s the very heart of a faith that seeks to see Jesus as he truly is and to become the reflections of Jesus that we truly are, even if that honesty is sometimes painfully brilliant! The closing lyrics of the choir’s first anthem this morning recalls Luke’s story of the transfiguration, “Go up to the mountain of God. And there renew your faith in the Son of God. May your life of faith reflect the light of Christ to the world. Alleluia!”