Spirituality is...A Do-Over

"With God, every moment is the moment of beginning again."
Catherine Doherty

     One of the most awesome and powerful elements of childhood is the "Do-Over".  You remember the "Do-Over" don't you?  It usually happened when someone new was playing a game and violated a rule without knowing it, or there was so much confusion or contesting about a play in a game that the simplest, best method for solving the crisis was simply to pretend the event never happened and start again.  Do-Over's are metaphysical miracles. They are part time-travel (going back as if something never happened), part opportunity (a baseball strike before a do-over could become a hit the second time around), and all grace.

     As we grow up, we seem to use Do-Overs less and less, and we seem to need them more and more. A chance to go back, a chance to re-do, and a chance to change the outcome of our actions or in-actions would change the game of our lives and the world entire. 

     In the bible, there is a story of a woman accused of adultery.  The bible describes the scene this way:

“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.  Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”   John 8:3-11

We may be tempted to think of that scenario as her "Do-Over".  But we would be wrong.  It isn't a Do-Over for her --- no one who gets that close to death can pretend it didn't happen.  It's a Do-Over for the crowd - for us.  They have judged, accused and sentenced her - they have treated her badly, and looked upon her with neither mercy, nor wisdom. Jesus stops this event before it gets any worse, and by pointing out their own sin gives them a chance to walk away, think about it, and hopefully do better the next time around.

Spirituality - the ability to look internally and give mercy externally is a constant invitation to Do-Over. It is the comfort that reminds us it is never too late to begin again.

Imagine Jesus, compassionate and protective, standing with the woman caught in the act of adultery, challenging the crowd to examine their souls. It is a moment of tense silence as the stones in their hands grow heavy with the weight of their own sins. What if, suddenly, one person unable to see his sin (or unwilling to admit it) throws a rock at the woman? It strikes her, and bounces to the ground. What would happen? You know. So do I. She would die under a barrage of stones as the flood gates of self righteousness open.

But what then? How could there possibly be a Do-Over then?  The answer lies with the stones.

What would happen to the stones? Would they lay on the ground jagged and stained? Would someone collect them and show them in a museum? Would someone in her family retrieve them, sharpen them and throw them back at members of the crowd? And perhaps the most intriguing question of all - what would Jesus, the Savior, do with those stones?

I believe Jesus would pick up the stones one by one and with his tears and his own garment clean the blood from their surface and use them to build a bridge or a well or a church. I believe Jesus would reclaim those stones in the name of the Holy God who made them and use them for hope's purpose. I believe Jesus would make a lesson and a life change of those stones.  I believe he would make those stones a monument to the power of beginning again.

We live in a world where sinners throw stones every day. We hurl insults, divide with prejudice, and judge one another without hardly any thought to the stones we are throwing or the sin we deny. Jesus is pretty clear. If you have sin in your life, then you must seek forgiveness, reconcile with God and change your ways. And until you do that wonder of wonders -- leave the stones on the ground.  Only a person without sin may throw a stone (and, really, why would that person want to?).

Jesus is still in front of us - writing in the sand, reminding us to search our hearts, to build some bridges, and to never forget the power of the Do-Over.

Is It A Sin?

Lectionary Reading: Romans 4:1-8;13-17

One of the questions I hear a lot starts with, “Is it a sin to….” The end of the question varies – “to commit suicide”, “to get angry”, “to divorce an abusive husband”, “to use birth control”… depending on the issue at hand. The sad thing is, I hear a lot more talk about sin than salvation and a lot more consternation about being slaves to sin than celebration about being free in love.

Paul seems to have been hearing the same stuff from the Roman church. In Chapter 4 he launches into a tirade about Abraham, reminding the people that Abraham didn’t inherit the blessings of God because he was sinless (in fact, in you know anything about Abraham you know he had quite a few recorded sins) but because he was loved by God, and God forgave his sins. Paul stresses the important thing is not the law of interpretation, but the love of God. It’s a funny soapbox for a man who spent most of his life as a Pharisee – a teacher of the law. Yet his speech points out some neat things for us too.

Not Every Bad Thing Is A Sin!

I think one of the reason sin is so prevalent in our world is that we talk so much about it and have trivialized it to the point that everything seems like a sin. When we do that the real destruction caused by actual sin goes unnoticed amidst all the judgment over petty issues and personal ideals. There is a difference between casual acts of humanity that may not be in our best interest and sin. In Romans 4 Paul points out a scripture from the old testament that says, “Blessed are they
whose transgressions are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered.”

Transgressions and sins are different things. It reminds me of the old preacher’s joke. A woman walks up to her Pastor one day after church and says “You have to forgive me pastor, I am subject to a terrible sin. The sin of pride has gotten me.” The concerned pastor frowned and asked her, “what do you mean?”. “Well,” she began. “Every Sunday I look at all the women in church and realize I am the prettiest of them all. The whole time you are preaching I become aware of my beauty and how much better looking I am than the rest of your congregants.” The pastor laughed and said, “Oh Mrs. Jones – that’s not a sin. That’s a mistake!”

There is a difference in the two! Transgression means literally “To step across” (American Heritage Dictionary). It means to walk across a boundary. When we step outside of God’s will for us, we are transgressing. Its not hard to do – particularly when some parts of God’s will (where we should work, how we should vote or think about things like abortion, suicide, divorce or war) are not very clear. Still when we step over the boundaries, we are transgressing.

Sin is a conscious betrayal of God’s will by our action or inaction. Sin is when we know exactly what God wants, and deliberately do the other. Sin strikes as the very heart of God and God’s desire for who we are. I think its a mistake (but not a sin) to call every thing that someone does we find to be unacceptable a “sin”. What it does is surround us with sin – and overwhelm us with a sense of spiritual helplessness. By labeling everything sin, nothing gets examined – we just chalk it up to our “fallen nature”, ask forgiveness and move forward. But a transgression – that we could heal, learn from, or discover with – if only we did more than slap a skull and crossbones label on it and surrender to it. A sin reflects a betrayal of a deity. We may transgress against each other – but we do not sin against each other.

More clearly – there are differences between transgressions (forgiven) and sins (covered).

Transgression
Stepping over the boundaries
Sometimes we know where the boundaries are
Sometimes we don’t
We can transgress and not mean to do that
We can learn from transgressions
We can transgress against one another
We can be forgiven
We can forgive others

Sin
Deliberately betraying God
We know what God’s laws are
We know when we are stepping over them
We intentionally are choosing to disobey God – you can’t accidentally sin.
We can learn from the consequences of sin
We cannot sin against one another - a sin is a betrayal of deity
We can be forgiven by God
We cannot forgive the sins of another (only God can forgive)

By keeping a clear view of what we are doing – we are more spiritually prepared to learn from, seek forgiveness and allow God to change our behavior.

Its about Grace!

Further Paul goes on to remind the Romans once again that you cannot “work” out your salvation and you can’t work to get forgiveness. It is the Grace of God that frees you from your transgressions and covers your sins. When we spend so much time obsessed with what is a sin and what are the consequences – we miss the whole point of Christianity which is that Jesus Christ died and rose again to take this matter off our hands (and off our minds). Christ wants a glorifying body that reflects his love, power, change and peace to the world. But just going over again and again our sinful natures – we aren’t bringing anyone closer to God – we are simply hamsters on the wheel of guilt.

Its important people study the bible and know the absolute will of God. Its also important for people to study the bible so they know where the boundaries are and are less likely to transgress against God. But it is critical Paul reminds us – to dwell and celebrate the Grace of God that saves us, and embraced Abraham.

So in your life, instead of always asking the backwards question “Is it a sin….” Start by asking the frontwards question – “What does God want me to do or say” or “Is it the gospel?” –The Bible says every morning God’s mercy is new for us. It’s a new day. Don’t dwell on the failure. Live your life on the faith.