We talked about sin all week long. Surprised? We were 425 strong. That many Unitarian Universalists ministers
who gathered for the second Institute for Excellence in (UU) Ministry. Four days of continuing education (5 hours a
day), morning worship (90 minutes), vespers (60 minutes), and relaxing
conversations (the inspirational to the mundane). And lots of talk about sin! Imagine, all those UU ministers talking about
this quintessential idea and motivation in the Christian religion!

We rarely
mentioned or used the word sin. What was heard was a lot of talk about
completeness and wholeness; that the purpose, goal, desire and hope in our
lives, in the congregations where we serve, is to create opportunities for
people to feel complete and whole, especially since the forces of sin are so
prevalent.
And what is
sin? It’s fragmentation, splintering;
sin is being broken. Confession is
admitting and naming that we are broken, we are not the people we want to be, at our
deepest level we are incomplete. And
let’s name all the reasons for incompleteness and brokenness - what contributes to you feeling unfulfilled or incomplete in your deepest self? I’ll suggest that many - even most? - of the
reasons have to do with being separated from your heart’s/soul’s longing. In this context, brokenness - or sin - is the
space made, the void in our lives, because we are not centered or grounded,
we are untethered to that which gives meaning, direction and spirit to living.

So, there you
have it - four days of conversation into a blog posting! What I returned with is a very big
question. I accept that I am broken, I
know I “long to be made whole” (in the words of a hymn), and I know I can’t do
this alone - so, how does congregational life fit into it all? How do we support, nurture and love each
other onto a path that takes us out of or away from brokenness?
Isn’t this what we expect from our faith community? Isn’t it?
See you
soon. See you in church,
Fred
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