Those who have been at Bethel last Sunday and listened to Pr. Ben’s “Pride” sermon, will know that our Sunday worship services this Lent are designed around the theme of the “deadly sins” (also known as cardinal sins or mortal sins): pride, envy, anger, sloth, and greed.
It all began when I was planning our Palm Sunday services. One thought let to another, and – bam! – there the idea of focusing on the so-called “deadly” sins was born. As there are five Sundays in Lent, we will be looking at only five of the seven behaviors that comprise that list. The two that we won’t talk about are gluttony and lust.
The moment, though, that I began working on this week’s sermon, though, I began to feel severe pangs of regret. What had I done? Where is the Lutheran element in such focus on a list of really bad sins? How can this amount to more than judgmental, hypocritical finger-wagging. We might not agree on everything as a congregation, but my assumption is that we share a common focus on grace, God’s grace.
If we say that God is gracious and deals graciously with us, we mean that God shows us unmerited favor and bestows on us unmerited blessings. God came to us in the form of a human being to save us from eternal damnation and to open to us the way of everlasting life -- to a life with God that begins in the here and now and a life with God that extends into eternity.
The notion that God’s blessings are unmerited assumes that - left to our own devices - we cannot save ourselves. We cannot be in right relationship with God, with our neighbors, not even with ourselves. To help us accomplish all of this, to help us be in right relationship and experience shalom, God came to us. God’s actions always precede any human aspirations and efforts, as we can witness on so many occasions in the stories of the Old Testament. Any genuinely Lutheran faith begins with the awareness that God is reaching out to us, more than we are reaching up to God.
So what about sins, more specifically the famous “list of seven.” To us Christians, sin is more than messing up, missing the mark. To us Christians, sin is an offense against and rebellion against our Creator. Sin is that which separates us from God.
At the same time, it is good to notice that all seven of those sins are very closely related to what makes us human, to some of the best aspects of being human. Take, for example, the sin of lust. It is closely related to our human desire and ability to feel love and intimacy, to become close to another human being. Similarly, ambition can be the shadow-side of greed or envy. Sloth the can be the shadow-side of rest. Wrath/anger can be the shadow-side of taking a courageous stance against injustice. And gluttony can be the shadow-side of the ability to experience pleasure in life.
Wagging our index finger and chiding one another to commit sin is not a Lutheran approach to speaking of God and reflecting on Christian living. Rather, our calling is to witness to God’s grace, to speak of God’s forgiving love, and to encourage one another – by word and example – to live loving, gracious, just lives, lives that build up the body of Christ, rather than tear it down.
Nevertheless, there has to be room in our Lutheran belief system for talking about sin – simply because sin is real and sin is powerful. Even if we want to be good and loving and kind, so very often we cannot do so. As a community, it helps us to name evil and sin to give us the tools and the power to fight it within ourselves. I am not calling to a Christian witch-hunt or finger-pointing. Reflecting on sin means that I begin by reflecting on the power it holds over myself.
This Sunday, we will look at the sin of envy during our worship services. I invite you to read the Scripture passages in advance that we will listen to during worship: Genesis 4:1-8, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, and Matthew 20:1-16. (Simply click on these passages and it will take you to the BibleGateway, an online Bible website.) If you are able, read these passages and reflect on how you may have experienced envy in yourself and in others and how that envy has the power to separate you from God.
I look forward to seeing you at Bethel this Sunday.
No comments:
Post a Comment