I decided that I needed to do some reading so I read Barbara Brown Taylor’s Speaking of Sin and reread part of Migliore on humanity and sin. Here is how sin was defined in the readings.
Barbara Brown Taylor – “Sin is the existential state of distance from God. Sins are willful human choices that maintain that distance.”
Migliore (157) “Sin is basically a refusal to live in right relationship with God and others, the denial of God’s grace and the refusal to live in just and peaceful community that participates in and reflects God’s own life in communion.”
Sin is our choice to live with broken relationship to God and others. We deny the grace that God has extended to us and (as stated in the Confession of 1967) “we claim mastery of our own lives and turn against God. It becomes idolatry of self or others. Something else is put first, something that is not God. I think this is a willful choice, either by ourselves or by others as their choices affect us too. This is where the corporate nature of sin comes into play. The choices we make affect the lives of others, both positively and negatively. It is only by grace that I can make any turn, any realization that I have placed something in the place of God. Only by grace through Jesus Christ can I hope to be restored in relationship with God or with others.
So now my question as this related to the church is do we place false standards on people, make requirements of them to be in relationship with us. I am drawn to the parable of the Prodigal Father. The youngest son is welcomed back with open arms after he comes to himself (I love that phrase), it is his moment of realization that he has distanced himself from his father. He plans his confession, the prepared speech he will make upon seeing his father and his offer for repentance, to live as one of the hired servants. And when he returns, because he has made his confession and repentance, he is given the restoration.
I see the church as the older brother. We are jealous when the father welcomes our brother home. We have been there all along, but have we truly been in relationship with the father (yes I know, I am using exclusive language)? Sometimes the greatest distance is where it seems to be least likely, is that the case now? Are those of us who claim to be Christians really in right relationship with one another or with God?
What would happen if we were to have the type of community that Bonhoffer writes about in Life Together? What would happen if we truly sought confession, pardon and repentance with one another that our relationships might be fully restored. What road blocks to we put up that keep us from being in right relationship? What standards do feel people have to meet before we will accept them?
BTW - If you haven't read John Shelby Spong's "The Sins of Scripture" I would recommend it. Interesting whether you agree with him or not.
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4 comments:
Great post. I would still quibble with the "willful choice" part of sin not because it is not willful but because it is not an autonomous and free choice.
I've arrived late to this fascinating party, and my question may not be relevant to the Part 2 issue, but (perhaps in Part 3?) would anyone be up for discussing what I heard someone recently describe as the sin of "heartbrokenness"? How do the heartbroken reconcile with God and others, when they're mired in the depths of despair? How can we help them and at the same time share compassion for the depth of their pain and suffering?
Love,
Julie
Tim - I think the "willful choice" thing is something that we have disagreed on how to articulate for a couple years. :) I think our ability to choose is due to the grace of God.
Julie - I think the "sin of heartbrokenness" would be where others have created a rift in relationship and when mired in the depths of despair and there is need for community to suffer alongside them.
Now I can tell you had Cindy Rigby for Sys I because your discussion of the prodigal shows I had Bill Greenway, though with Bill is was more like Asystematic Theology.
You write: when [the younger son] returns, because he has made his confession and repentance, he is given the restoration.
Bill asked us when the moment of grace was in this parable. You chose, like the rest of us in class, the point after Luke 15:21. Bill dares us to consider the moment of grace at Luke 15:20b:
"But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him."
There is nothing the younger son can do to earn the forgivness and grace of his father. It is the father's love, not the son's repentence that restores the relationship.
Now, IMHO, the quality of their relationship and even more so, his relationship with his brother, will be based on his repentence after receiving the grace of his father. This is a sort of the parallel of being saved by grace through faith. My sermon on the Ten Lepers called "Give Thanks" gets into this deeper.
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