It occurs to me that an unfortunate consequence of the “I’m OK, you’re OK,” new-age, self-help, positive affirmation movement of the last twenty years is a seemingly deep aversion in the modern church to talking about repentance and sin.
This seems particularly true among communities made up of persecuted and oppressed minorities like my own LGBTQ brothers and sisters who, after lifetimes of building their self-confidence and learning to accept that God loves them as they are, feel deeply uncomfortable with seasons like Lent that emphasize our fallenness and our need for penitence.
I remember well the sermon of a friend, a wonderful priest, many years ago that tried to blast that notion out of the water by starting her sermon with the words “HOW DARE YOU absolve yourself from the responsibility for your own sin simply because you have been hurt by the sin of oppression.” You could hear an audible gasp as the words settled in the air.
I deeply empathize with those for whom sin is an uncomfortable reminder that we are not perfect. No one, oppressed or not, is comfortable looking at where we fall short. No one cares to admit the sins of our own hearts. But, too often, when the church looks at us as nothing more than the sum totality of our sexual lives rather than in the fullness of our humanity – no wonder we who so deeply internalize this homophobia cannot break free and separate our sexuality from the notion of sin when the word rears its head during Lent.
The glory for me of the Gospel is the fact that, deep down, I know I am not perfect. I do not always do what I ought and sometimes do what I ought not to do. And this is sin. But I cannot forget that along with sin also comes forgiveness. And that forgiveness is the entire point of even looking at sin to begin with. I have the capacity to make moral choices and that is the gift of being fully human. To choose to do for others than for myself, to choose not to harm, to choose love rather than hatred. And even when I fall short, forgiveness is there freely.
And what tremendous liberation is there in freely accepting the knowledge that I am not and will never be perfect. To accept that I sin is to be truly free. Not that I need not try to overcome it. But that by acknowledging it, I recognize that the grace of God is there, freely offered, to help me become a better person and to recognize that I am loved and forgiven even when I fall short.
For those of my brothers and sisters who struggle with the very idea of sin, I say be free. For it is not God’s judgement that we thrash against, but our own. Lent is an opportunity for us to open our hearts to the unconditional love of God by acknowledging our need for repentance. Not because we are gay…
Thought for Lent 02.25.10
It occurs to me that an unfortunate consequence of the “I’m OK, you’re OK,” new-age, self-help, positive affirmation movement of the last twenty years is a seemingly deep aversion in the modern church to talking about repentance and sin.
This seems particularly true among communities made up of persecuted and oppressed minorities like my own LGBTQ brothers and sisters who, after lifetimes of building their self-confidence and learning to accept that God loves them as they are, feel deeply uncomfortable with seasons like Lent that emphasize our fallenness and our need for penitence.
I remember well the sermon of a friend, a wonderful priest, many years ago that tried to blast that notion out of the water by starting her sermon with the words “HOW DARE YOU absolve yourself from the responsibility for your own sin simply because you have been hurt by the sin of oppression.” You could hear an audible gasp as the words settled in the air.
I deeply empathize with those for whom sin is an uncomfortable reminder that we are not perfect. No one, oppressed or not, is comfortable looking at where we fall short. No one cares to admit the sins of our own hearts. But, too often, when the church looks at us as nothing more than the sum totality of our sexual lives rather than in the fullness of our humanity – no wonder we who so deeply internalize this homophobia cannot break free and separate our sexuality from the notion of sin when the word rears its head during Lent.
The glory for me of the Gospel is the fact that, deep down, I know I am not perfect. I do not always do what I ought and sometimes do what I ought not to do. And this is sin. But I cannot forget that along with sin also comes forgiveness. And that forgiveness is the entire point of even looking at sin to begin with. I have the capacity to make moral choices and that is the gift of being fully human. To choose to do for others than for myself, to choose not to harm, to choose love rather than hatred. And even when I fall short, forgiveness is there freely.
And what tremendous liberation is there in freely accepting the knowledge that I am not and will never be perfect. To accept that I sin is to be truly free. Not that I need not try to overcome it. But that by acknowledging it, I recognize that the grace of God is there, freely offered, to help me become a better person and to recognize that I am loved and forgiven even when I fall short.
For those of my brothers and sisters who struggle with the very idea of sin, I say be free. For it is not God’s judgement that we thrash against, but our own. Lent is an opportunity for us to open our hearts to the unconditional love of God by acknowledging our need for repentance. Not because we are gay…
but because we are human.