Sin, Evil and
All That Stuff
Basics of Faith 7 – August
1, 2017
A Sermon by
Rev. M. Gayle MacDonald
Texts read on August 13: An Unfair World ~Paraphrase of Psalm 85 by James
Taylor (printed below); Luke 15:11-32
An Unfair World
Paraphrase of Psalm 85 by James Taylor
(from
“Everyday Psalms(Kindle Locations 2075-2089). Wood
Lake Publishing. Kindle Edition)
Pious voices utter platitudes:
"Trust in the Lord. It's God's will.
God knows best."
People way with certainty:
"The Lord gives, and the Lord taken
away."
"With faith, all things are
possible."
"Silence!" I want to shout. "Take your frozen formulas and
leave
me alone! Let me listen for what God has
to say."
For God will not let a broken heart
bleed by itself
in the night.
When wounds but to the bone, only God can
sew together
the
torn edges of a shattered life.
Only God can soothe such throbbing
pain"
Surely goodness and mercy will grow again,
and sunshine return to the sky.
Sorrow is holy ground;
Walk on it only with feet bared to the pain
of every pebble.
Through the storm, the Lord of life come
walking
on
the salt sea of tears
When I was planning this series, I
called this topic sin and evil and all that stuff – not to be dismissive – but
because we moderns can be somewhat dismissive of the topic of sin and evil –
preferring not to raise them in the context of worship.
It isn’t that
the subject of sin and evil doesn’t interest, but my sense is that these words
as they relate to us in a Christian context have become somewhat confusing – a
bit muddy around the edges. It is my belief, that as we progress both as
a species and as a culture, our definition of what lies in the realm of sin or
evil changes. It isn’t that I believe sin or evil as concepts change – but
what actions or ideas we would put in those categories clearly changes.
And I will explain that a little further in a moment
The other
thing that I want to say about the topic of sin and evil, is that we cannot
talk about sin and evil without talking about grace, forgiveness, and
redemption. So, the “all that stuff” part of this topic just got
very big.
How is it
that the things we would consider to be sins or evil change? In any
culture, people who grew up in with the same value system would probably be
very close in naming what things are “taboo” and what is “evil”; but are they
always right? And, if the line keeps shifting, how do we find a
definition that helps us to come to grips with the very real dilemma of wanting
to live morally and ethically if the line keeps shifting?
Consider
this, for example. There was a time in some places in North America when
inter-racial marriage was considered a sin? Was it or could it ever have
been a sin? We would say, “no” because what was a cultural taboo specific
to a certain segment of society at a certain time in history, we don’t consider
a problem at all. Here, in this place and in this time, we think such an
attitude ridiculous and that a policy of racial segregation is, in itself, a
sin. As humans and as a society, in the places where racial segregation
was the social norm, we needed to learn more about what it meant to be human
and about the problems created by systemic evil or sin – i.e., created by
systems which perpetuate injustice, and the ignorance which allows injustice to
flourish? Sorting out sin and cultural taboo’s is complicated and
has everything to do with where and how we were raised.
Right now, in
2017 there are still cultures that engage in honour killing – i.e., if a female
has sex before marriage (and it matters little whether it is because she has
fallen in love, or been raped, because her non-virginity brings shame on her
family), that female has to be killed in order to preserves the family
honour. Such an idea is reprehensible to me, going beyond, in my mind,
being a sin – bordering perhaps on evil. And it is not that I think that
the people are evil, but that people can be consumed by systems and ideas which
are destructive and non-life-giving. As far as I am concerned, the notion
that falling in love with the wrong person, or crossing certain sexual
boundaries should bring the death penalty is just not right.
The definition of sin and evil becomes very fuzzy when we cross cultural
boundaries – or does it? The most important concept of our faith which I
believe directs and re-directs our thoughts about sin and evil – about judgment
and punishment - is “grace”. The unasked for but always offered gifts of
forgiveness, redemption, and love. When we consider Grace, Forgiveness,
Redemption and Love, we run smack up against Christian understandings of sin
and evil, which are always trumped by grace, by love, by understanding and
forgiveness.
We don’t talk
much in the United Church about sin; and the reason we don’t do it, isn’t
because we don’t think it is real – but because we probably are cognizant of
the burden of judgment and guilt. We tend more to think in terms of
growing and learning, of making mistakes and recovering from our mistakes, in
terms of becoming increasingly the people God wants us to be. And yet by
avoiding the talk of sin, we miss the opportunity to allow others to unburden
themselves of the guilt they may already be feeling and of accessing the
transforming gifts of repentance and redemption – of knowing their own worth,
of the opportunity to become their best selves.
I want to talk about one of the most problematic of Christian concepts with
regard to sin – that is original sin. Paradoxically, while we, in this
modern age, might reject the idea of original sin because, we ask, “how can an
innocent child be born in sin?”; in its most basic understanding the
theological understanding of original sin probably applies to most, if not all
of us. The idea of original sin has little to do with the innocence of
children, and more to do with the decision of Adam and Eve to turn away from
God –and thus, alienate themselves and humankind from the Garden of Eden – from
God’s garden.
The story is
not literal, but symbolic of the human condition – for what one of us at some
point in our journey through life hasn’t turned away from what we knew was
right? It is part of our journey – to question the rights and wrongs laid
before us and to come to conclusions that don’t always line up with what we
were taught. But is this original sin, or is it original blessing?
This is a question which has caused much flux and consternation in the
church. Is the gift of free will and the inevitable outcome of having
free will – i.e., sometimes making wrong choices, all bad or is it a necessary part of our learning and
growing? Is God more pleased if we love God because we have no choice, or
if we love God, because we have free will and, having free will, to love God is
our choice? Which would please you more to have someone
love you because you gave them no choice, or to have someone freely choose to
love you? Which is a blessing for you?
Moving beyond the concept of original sin and free will; Christian theologians
often make a distinction between venial (or less serious) sins and mortal
(or deadly) sins. In committing venial sin, the transgressions are
committed without full awareness of wrongdoing; whereas in committing mortal
sin, the perpetrator deliberately turns away from God and chooses to “sin”, to
do wrong. This is a rather simple explanation, but it will do for today.
But it raises
some questions for me in terms of some of our Gospel stories – in particular,
the parable of the prodigal son – the younger son asks for and receives his
part of the inheritance while still alive; then take this inheritance and runs
off, squandering it on what basically amounts to wild living. Later,
destitute he comes back, aware that he is not worthy of being called son and
intends to ask if he can work as a servant for his Father. His father
welcomes him with open arms, forgives him and treats him like a son – which is
what he has always been to the father.
So, has the youngest son committed mortal sin or venial sin? He was, not
doubt aware, that he was rejecting his father and he knew his father would not
like the way he was living. Was he aware of the anguish he was causing in
his parents? Could he help himself? Was he bad, or just foolish, or
naïve? He was definitely, at least in my opinion, rebellious – which
leaves me concerned – for I too have been rebellious in my own way. Were
his sins mortal (i.e., deadly) because he rejected what he knew was right, or
were they venial because he did not believe his father was right at that time,
but had to learn the truth for himself? Who knows what was in his heart
and head at that time in that story?
The important
thing is he made a bad choice and he learned – and because of love and because
of grace – his father’s love, the undeserved gift of being accepted fully back,
he was forgiven and he was restored to his family. How things went at
home after that the initial celebration of his return is not part of this
story. But a new beginning in his family relationship is.
If we are
honest, none of us escapes sin. Why I feel we hesitate, in our particular
culture to apply the word ,sin, in the traditional sense of moral
wrong-doing is because of the awareness and self-awareness portion in the
committing of sins; because, among those who are still learning and growing
(and particularly among children) to say one has sinned is to lay a heavy
burden to carry and should not be laid, I believe, by one person upon another
because it is for God, not for us, to judge for another what is sin, and what
is the weight of that sin – what was the intention, the circumstance, the
awareness the leaning of the heart. Our task is to know ourselves and to
try to know God. And yet redemption, being restored to a state of grace
requires our acknowledgement of what we are doing or have done and our desire
to make things good.
Of all the
definitions of sin and evil, the one that speaks to me the most is still that
of Scott Peck – a psychologist who came to his faith when he was around
40. His definition goes something like this: If God is Love; then
to sin is to be apathetic towards, ignorant of or indifferent towards love or
doing the loving thing. Evil, on the other hand is the willful and
intentional destruction of love. Time and time again, I have found
the definition useful – especially since I find evil such a difficult thing to
get a handle on.
I don’t think
people are in and of themselves “evil”, but I do think that there can be a
negative or destructive will or force which can subsume people and even
societies, gaining energy and wreaking havoc and destruction – policies and
belief systems that divide people from one another, that create inequalities
and allow judgment – that make it possible for one human being to destroy
another because they fail to see the other human for who they truly are.
I know, we all know, that there seem to be a handful of people so immune to
love that the evil they commit is unspeakable. And these leave us
bewildered and at a loss, because that is not where we are and not where we ever
want to be.
For many of
us, our battle with evil is with corporate of societal evil - in
resisting the policies, the systems, the ideas which are destructive to life –
and seeing them and naming them isn’t always easy, and the choices aren’t
always plain and we make mistakes – so we learn and grow and support one
another in our life together.
In the midst
of all our definitions and our struggle to come to terms with sin and evil is
our faith. When speaking of sin, our Christian faith specifically refers
to God – speaks of sin as alienating ourselves from God. And our faith,
in understanding the redemptive and forgiving nature of God, leans heavily on
the person and life of Jesus. Paul refers to Jesus as the new “Adam” –
i.e., a new prototype for humanity.
The history
of humanity in sacred scripture starts off pretty shakily. All is good
for a short while and then humanity (i.e., Adam and Eve) decides to want to
know what God knows and so they disobey God – eating off the forbidden tree of
the knowledge of Good and Evil. This is the beginning of deliberate
turning away from God; i.e., original sin. But it is more than that, it
is the pattern of humanity to want to know more, to be more –a necessary part
of being human and of becoming.
In Jesus,
Paul sees something remarkable: Jesus is born like all of us into the
human world, but he is different. He lives fully out of love and grace –
he heals, he restores, he forgives and even in the moments of greatest doubt
and despair on the cross, he forgives. He acts always in the direction of
love. This, for Paul, makes Jesus the new Adam, i.e., the new prototype
of the human being created in the image of God. This now is our
model: this is what it means to be human and created in the image of God.
We are, each
of us born into a world of flesh and blood. We start out innocent, we
grow, we stumble, we fall, we make mistakes, we learn, we make wrong choices,
we make right choices – but always we are within reach of the grace, the free
gift of love and forgiveness - of the love that encourages us and
challenges us to be the whole and love-filled creatures we were meant to be.
And so,
because we are loved, because grace is always held before us, because we desire
to be whole and healed, let us bring all of who we are to God in prayer.
United Church of Canada Statements and Creeds on Communion
1925 – Basis of Union
Article V. Of the Sin of Man. We believe that our
first parents, being tempted, chose evil, and so fell away from God and came
under the power of sin, the penalty of which is eternal death; and that, by
reason of this disobedience, all men are born with a sinful nature, that we
have broken God’s law, and that no man can be saved but by His grace.
Article VI. Of the Grace of God. We believe that
God, out of His great love for the world, has given His only begotten Son to be
the Saviour of sinners, and in the Gospel freely offers His all-sufficient
salvation to all men. We believe also that God, in His own good pleasure, gave
to his son a people, an innumerable multitude, chosen in Christ unto holiness,
service, and salvation.
Article X.
Of Faith and Repentance. We believe that faith in Christ is a saving grace
whereby we receive Him, trust in Him, and rest upon Him alone for salvation as
He is offered to us in the Gospel, and that this saving faith is always
accompanied by repentance, wherein we confess and forsake our sins with full
purpose of and endeavour after a new obedience to God.
Article XI. Of Justification and Sonship. We
believe that God, on the sole ground of the perfect obedience and sacrifice of
Christ, pardons those who by faith receive Him as their Saviour and Lord,
accepts them as righteous, and bestows upon them the adoption of sons, with a
right to all privileges therein implied, including a conscious assurance of
their sonship.
Article XII. Of Sanctification. We believe that
those who are regenerated and justified grow in the likeness of Christ through
fellowship with Him, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and obedience to the
truth; that a holy life is the fruit and evidence of saving faith; and that the
believer’s hope of continuance in such a life is in the preserving grace of
God. And we believe that in this growth in grace Christians may attain that
maturity and full assurance of faith whereby the love of God is made perfect in
us.
1940 – Statement of Faith
V. Man and Man’s Sin We believe that God gave to
man, as He did not to the lower creatures, capacity to share His thought and
purpose, and freedom to choose whether he would or would not love and serve
Him. We believe that man has used his freedom of choice for low and selfish
ends, thus estranging himself from God and his brother man, and bringing upon
himself the judgment and wrath of God, so that he lives in a world of confusion
and distress, and is unable of himself to fulfill God’s high purpose for him.
So we acknowledge man’s sin, God’s righteous judgment, and man’s helplessness
and need.
VI. Redemption We believe that in the greatness of
His love for man God has in Christ opened up a way of deliverance from the
guilt and power of sin. We believe that Christ, by living our life without sin,
by dying at the hands of sinful men with faith unshaken and unfaltering love,
has done for man what man could not do for himself. On the Cross He bore the
burden of sin, and He broke its power; and what He did there moves men to
repentance, conveys forgiveness, undoes the estrangement, and binds them to
Himself in a new loyalty. We believe that by His resurrection and exaltation
Christ stands victorious over death and all evil, and that He fills those who
commit themselves to Him with such grace and strength that in Him they, too,
are conquerors. His redemption of man is at once an awful mystery and a
glorious fact; it is the Lord’s doing and marvelous in our eyes. So we
acknowledge the unmerited love and the mercy of our God in giving His
only-begotten Son that we might not perish but have everlasting life.
1968
(Rev.
1980, 1995) - A New Creed
We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God’s presence,
to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.
to celebrate God’s presence,
to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.
2006 – A Song of Faith
Made in the image of God,
we
yearn for the fulfillment that is life in God.
Yet
we choose to turn away from God.
We
surrender ourselves to sin,
a disposition revealed in selfishness,
cowardice, or apathy.
Becoming
bound and complacent
in a web of false desires and wrong choices,
we bring harm to ourselves and others.
This
brokenness in human life and community
is an outcome of sin.
Sin
is not only personal
but accumulates
to become habitual and systemic forms
of injustice, violence, and hatred.
We
are all touched by this brokenness:
the rise of selfish individualism
that erodes human solidarity;
the concentration of wealth and power
without regard for the needs of all;
the toxins of religious and ethnic bigotry;
the degradation of the blessedness of human
bodies
and human passions through sexual
exploitation;
the delusion of unchecked progress and
limitless growth
that threatens our home, the earth;
the covert despair that lulls many into numb
complicity
with empires and systems of domination.
We
sing lament and repentance.
Yet evil does not—cannot—
undermine or overcome the love of God.
God
forgives,
and calls all of us to confess our fears and
failings
with honesty and humility.
God
reconciles,
and calls us to repent the part we have
played
in damaging our world, ourselves, and each
other.
God
transforms,
and calls us to protect the vulnerable,
to pray for deliverance from evil,
to work with God for the healing of the
world,
that all might have abundant life.
We
sing of grace.
