Integrity, dictionary definition wise, has to do with consistency, purity, trustworthiness. As a character trait it pertains to being morally principled.
In the evangelical church, particularly in the 1990’s, I heard the word a lot. Some of this had to do with a men’s movement present at the time called “Promise Keepers”. Across the United States (and spilling into Canada), stadiums were being filled up with men who were either tightly or loosely connected to the evangelical church. These stadium events were part of a larger programme in which men were encouraged by other men to accept their rightful (as defined by the movement) responsibility and place in being “men of God.” If you want to hear about the good outcomes of the movement you would do better to ask someone other than me about it. I will acknowledge that it, apparently, made a positive difference in a number of lives.
Like most movements, there was a whole lexicon attached to Promise Keepers. There were terms like:
men of God
men of integrity
7 promises of a Promise Keeper
brotherhood
unity
obedience
That kind of thing.
The second item on that list contains the word integrity. The demand for integrity was big, at the time, and I remember hearing, in church and in watching political news, many people (men particularly) being introduced as a person of integrity.
Every time I heard someone introduced that way I wanted to laugh just a little bit. Integrity is a high bar, it would seem. To allow yourself to be introduced as “a person of integrity,” without at least a chuckle, is to stake a claim to something greater than ought to be said of someone. In certain evangelical political circles of the time, the person who most represented non-integrity was Bill Clinton. It is interesting to note that American evangelicalism held moral integrity as important when Clinton was President, but not so much when Donald Trump was. That itself would seem to imply, on the part of American evangelicalism, a decided lack of integrity.
I bring all of this up because, curiously, Promise Keepers and Gwyneth Paltrow have come together in consideration around integrity. Paltrow was recently acquitted of causing a ski accident in 2016. Upon this judgment from the court and upon her winning her countersuit for $1, she explained to the media why she bothered to go to court to defend herself rather than paying out what, for her, would have been a small amount ($300,000 or less). She said that her decision to fight the charges had to do with the importance of her integrity. I get that. You wouldn’t want to admit or imply guilt for something that you did not do. However, Gwyneth Paltrow makes a huge amount of money from her Goop empire, which is very financially lucrative within the wellness industry. I’m not saying that integrity does not matter to her, but when I saw her comment I asked just how integrity matters to her and where. You could peruse the Goop website and consider the claims made about products and the cost of said products. What does it mean to have integrity when making money off of such products and claims?
I say this not to take a shot at Gwyneth Paltrow. She does seem nice, at least in her celebrity persona. Did you hear that when the trial ended she whispered to the man who had accused her? She said, “I wish you well.” See? Nice.
My note about integrity is simply to offer a positive way forward. When you see someone introduced in church or in the media as “a person of integrity,” it is okay to think to yourself, “Okay. But how, and where?”
Integrity does mean something to Gwyneth Paltrow, I don’t doubt that. I also don’t doubt that it means something to the men who speak about it when doing things like - let’s say - golfing.
There are people you can count on most of the time or almost all of the time. There are people that you can trust. Integrity is something worth valuing and aiming towards. It’s just that, in our human frailty, it would seem that one of the giveaways of lack of integrity is the declaration of its presence.
On another note:
For those of Christian faith - this Sunday marks the beginning of the most important week in the Christian calendar. We observe Palm Sunday and, what is often referred to as, the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The crowds of people cheered. They laid down palm branches welcoming Jesus as the coming King. Jesus did not stop the praises but he also did not encourage them. When the commotion had subsided, Jesus, now on his own, wept and prayed over the city. He was aware that the cheers of the people did not demonstrate an awareness of what was actually happening. Jesus was moving towards death, towards utter self-giving. The same crowds that had hollered his praise would soon either disappear and leave Jesus utterly alone or cheer for his death. It’s a complex scene, Palm Sunday. It is an entrance into the deep mystery of Holy Week. Jesus becoming more and more alone as he moves towards a self-giving act that has to do with the redemption of all the world and all history.
If you observe the days and events of Holy Week, both in gathering and in individual attention, I offer my prayers and blessing, for awareness of meaning, for sense of gratitude. I pray that your observance of these important things in your faith would draw you to a deeper awareness of God’s love for all.