Sin and sins (midweek message)

Paul Tillich

Fr. Tony’s Midweek Message

Sin and sins

January 27, 2016

Last Sunday was Septuagesima Sunday, the third Sunday before the start of Lent, traditionally the time when Christians begin thinking about what practices they are planning and what readings they will pursue this year in order to observe a holy Lent. 

The word and idea “sin” is a stumbling block for some, since it can at times be a label for over-scrupulous worries and guilt over minor flaws or the script that a drama-queen might wrongly recite to confess oneself as the worst of all possible people.  In this regard, it is useful to remember that the Greek word in the New Testament usually translated by “sin” is hamartia, originally a term in archery describing a missing of the mark or bull’s eye. 

The great 20^th century Protestant theologian Paul Tillich once preached a sermon called You Are Accepted, where he said the following about “sin”: 

 “Do we realize that sin does not mean an immoral act, that “sin” should never be used in the plural, and that not our sins, but rather our sin is the great, all-pervading problem of our life? Do we still know that it is arrogant and erroneous to divide men by calling some “sinners” and others “righteous”? For by way of such a division, we can usually discover that we ourselves do not quite belong to the “sinner,” since we have avoided heavy sins, have made some progress in the control of this or that sin, and have been even even humble enough not to call ourselves righteous…  This kind of thinking and feeling about sin is far removed from what the great religious tradition, both within and outside the Bible, has meant when it speaks of sin…  Sin is separation. To be in a state of sin is to be in the state of separation. And separation is threefold: there is separation among individual lives, separation of a man from himself, and separation of all men from the Ground of Being.”  

Søren Kierkegaard similarly taught that “sin” essentially was alienation—from self, from others, and from God.

In thinking about what Lenten practices you want to observe this year, you may want to first ask “What are the sources or drivers of alienation or separation—from myself, from others, and from God—in my life?”   Then you might choose a practice or a book that helps you better understand and address your alienation, and shows ways to find reconciliation.

Grace and Peace,

Fr. Tony+