15 November 2005

More from "Do No Harm" and conversations on sin-talk.

...the impulse to act against sin harbors deeply destructive potential. Douglas John Hall captures this dimension of sin-talk in his signaling of the potential dangers that attend Christian views of sin. "The vocabulary of Christian faith suffers from misunderstanding as every turn, but no term is as badly understood in both society and church as the little word, 'sin.' Nor is this misconception an innocent or merely 'religious' affair. Lives are ruined by it. Sometimes it destroys whole communities."

It doesn't take long to come up with a list of people (individuals or groups) whose lives have been shaped by those who have cast upon them the word "sin." There may not be a better way to create cast-offs. There may not be a better way to remove people from our presence. There may not be a better and "cleaner" way to throw others into the garbage heap of humanity. In other words, the word 'sin' or 'sinner' can ruin lives...destroy them. Sometimes sin-talk is not even about actions done by others. Sometimes it is simply about a person's or a people's being! And yet, it is enough to destroy them. It is quite odd that there are only some sins or sinners that really grab our imagination and allow us to do things that literally destroy their lives. Systemic sin is often overlooked. In fact, we have been able to clean it us so well that it is down right respectable and becomes a part of the powers that make the rules about what is sin and who should be condemned for being "sinful." We will get into more specifics as the week marches on.

Connection: Spend a little bit of time today remembering those people and groups whose lives have been sent into the fiery furnace of condemnation because of how they were associated to the sin-talk of the day. The faces may change...but they are always the beloved of God. Somehow we choose to forget that and listen only to how they can be cast in a demonic light. Let's lift them up in our prayers today.

Lord of All of Creation, within the brokenness of our lives you call us to forgive and live with those who may not be like us. Encourage us to approach all people with your eyes of love and justice so that we are drawn to them and with them instead of against them. Amen.