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!
I’ll confess
(which seems appropriate given my topic!) that no one ever said the word sin.
OK, maybe we did say sin once
or twice, but that’s irrelevant because we - I - understood; we understood that sin is alive and well in
Unitarian Universalism - and elsewhere too, but we were gathered as UUs so we
kept it personal.
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.
We are so quick
- or maybe I am so quick - to talk about a desire for wholeness or completeness
without naming an essential truth that shapes this need: In order to start on
the path to wholeness, there must be a desire for healing which starts with brokenness. I mean, if your hope is for
being made whole, your starting place must be realizing that you’re not whole,
that you’re incomplete, that you are broken.
And it’s been my experience that many UUs are not very open to or proficient
with the posture and language of humility - a basic requirement of setting out
on the journey. I’m reminded of a book I
read many years ago. It’s title was On
Not Leaving It to the Snake. The book
was a theological and ethical presentation of the Garden story (Adam, Eve and
the snake). The writer explored Adam’s
and Eve’s resistance to accepting responsibility for their actions, their
brokenness, their sins and their unwillingness to admit that they’d blown it
and seek forgiveness (which, of course, requires humility). So much easier to leave the blame to the
snake!
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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