In the name of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
“Have
mercy, Lord, for we are sinners in your sight.” That line comes from
Eucharistic Prayer C, which we used over the past several Sundays. It had been
a while since I had used Prayer C, and I’ll confess that I was uncomfortable
with that line from it. There is a particular brand of Christianity that focuses
on sin and buys into the theological concept of “total depravity,” believing that
humans are wretched creatures who are overrun with sin. Those ideas though have
never resonated with me; in fact, that’s the opposite of what I believe.
I
wasn’t raised to be fearful of a condemning god. I haven’t come to meet a
punishing god through prayer or Scripture. I don’t see myself as a sinner in the
hands of an angry god. Instead of focusing on an idea like Original Sin, which
isn’t actually in the Bible, I’ve practiced a faith rooted in the fact God
calls Creation, and humanity, “good” in Genesis. I have felt the presence of a
loving God in my life. I have witnessed the power of love, not retribution, to
heal wounds and restore relationships. I think that by focusing on sin and
being the vehicle for forgiveness, the Church has sold itself, and humanity,
short in a grab for power and control. While I acknowledge the fact that I, and
those around me, commit sins, I’m not quite comfortable labeling anyone as a “sinner.”
Sure, we sin, but that doesn’t define our identity as “sinner.” I don’t think
that God sees us and thinks “sinners” any more than I look at my daughters and
think “evil children.” And so that particular line has been something that I’ve
been praying and struggling with over the past several weeks.
And
here we are, face to face with sin on Ash Wednesday. Lent is an appropriate
time for us to consider our sins and repent of them. But if we are going to do
so in a way that draws us closer to God instead of simply being self-deprecating,
then we need to consider what we mean by sin.
In
his letter to Rome, St. Paul speaks of the fact that he often does the opposite
of what he wants to do, and does not do that which he wants to do. And through
the years, many theologians have said that sin finds its roots in hubris and
self-centeredness. In our reading from Isaiah, the prophet says “Look, you
serve your own interest.” Throughout that passage, Isaiah refers to sin by
noting places where things are not quite right. Relationships are strained,
people are oppressed, justice is not done. Understanding sin as the perversion
of the order of the world as God intended is a place for us to start. In fact,
the New Testament word for “sin” is a word borrowed from the field of archery
and literally means “to miss the mark.” You aim for the center of the target,
but due to either factors outside of your control, such as the wind, or your own
unsteady hand or poor judgment, you miss the center of the target. If the
metaphor of a dance is easier to understand, consider sin as a “misstep” or
being off a beat. This seems to be what Jesus is saying about sin in our
reading from Matthew. Jesus talks about sin as doing the right thing for the
wrong reasons, or at least doing the right thing in the wrong way. Jesus tells
us not to fast, or give, or pray in order to glorify ourselves, but rather in
order to bring God’s will for our lives in alignment with our own.
This
is an important way of looking at sin, but also more difficult. If sin is “missing
the target,” then we must realize that sometimes, even if you don’t hit the
bullseye, you might still hit one of the outer circles. Because I am a priest,
people will often ask me if I think that certain actions are sinful. My
response is often “it depends.” It depends on the intentions behind the action.
It depends on the results of the action. It depends on whether or not the
action strained the relationship. Sin is not about “do’s” and “don’ts”. Sin is
about whether or not we miss the mark of God’s intention for our world.
Sometimes we get closer to that target, and sometimes we are further away from it.
There
are two classifications of sin that we need to consider. The first is
corporate, or communal, sin. These are sins that we can’t really lay at the
feet of any one person, but rather are a part of the fabric of our society. For
example, we all drive cars which burn fossil fuels, putting stress on the environment,
and also causing many issues in the Middle East. That sin is on all of us. Often
these are sins of ignorance, as we don’t stop to think that if we’re buying
clothing so cheaply that in order to keep costs down, someone, somewhere, in a
sweatshop made them. This sort of sin is very real and is often overlooked. We
tend to overlook the privilege that we are born into while we wonder why some people
just can’t seem to get it together. But we also can’t focus only on this sort
of sin, because we might end up thinking that we don’t have any personal
culpability in such large and systemic issues.
Personal
sin is very real. The ashes confront us with our mortality - both in that no one escapes death, and that none of us are perfect or without sin. And though we need to acknowledge this, we ought not define
ourselves by the sins that we commit. We are not depraved, we are redeemed. The
danger in focusing too much on personal sin is that we end up focusing too much
on personal salvation. We end up thinking that it’s all about us. But as Isaiah
reminds us, what God seeks is communal salvation – for all people to be taken
care of and provided for. And so we need both aspects, the communal and the
individual, in order to understand what sin is all about.
The
call of Lent is toward repentance. Repent does not mean to “say sorry” or “feel
remorse,” but instead to repent, in the understanding of the Bible, is to “go
in a new direction.” It is good and healthy to confess our sins, taking responsibility
for them, but our readings today call us to make changes. To repent is to be
freed from the debilitating effects of sin by leaving it behind. Later in this
service, I will invite you “to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination
and repentance.” In doing so, I invite you to think about sin, not in terms of
which of the Ten Commandments that you’ve broken, but rather how you might
align your life to more closely reflect the peace and love of God. Think a bit
about what God’s Kingdom might look like. Reflect on how you might live the
prayer “thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” If we say that sin is
blindness, we not only need to be forgiven for our missteps, but also be given vision.
God does this by both putting away our sin and also inviting and equipping us
to see new pathways forward.
One
of the new directions that we might decide to go in is to know that God is
eager to forgive us. This Lent, you might choose to know the graciousness of
God by reading Scripture on a daily basis or by attending Morning or Evening
Prayer, which we offer here at St. Luke’s each weekday. You might choose to
forgive yourself for the things that hold you back from going in a new
direction. And if it would be helpful to you, please know that the Sacrament of
Reconciliation is available to all; please be in touch with me if you’d like to
discuss that option. You might start to see yourself, not as a broken sinner,
but rather as a redeemed and beloved instrument of God’s peace.
Sin is very real, as is the damage that it inflicts. Sin tears apart our relationships and distorts God’s dream for the world. We encounter sin when we miss that mark of God’s dream, sometimes through our own negligence or selfishness, and sometimes by being complicit in structures of injustice. And though sin can be pervasive in our language and liturgy, it is not to be overshadowed by God’s redeeming and restoring love for us. Though we are marked today with ashes, God also cleanses us and makes us new. The invitation of Ash Wednesday comes in Psalm 51 – We know our transgressions, and our sin is ever before us. And yet, God creates in us a clean heart, and renews a right spirit within us. Amen.
