During that day’s cool evening breeze, they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden; and the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God in the middle of the garden’s trees. — Genesis 3:8
I grew up thinking that sin is what we do. And that could, at least historically, contain a lot of interesting things in addition to breaking the Ten Commandments. Sin could be going to the movies, dancing, playing card, and [fill in the blank].
Episcopalian priest and author Barbara Brown Taylor succinctly explains what sin really is: Deep down in human existence there is an experience of reaching for forbidden fruit, of pushing away loving arms, of breaking something on purpose just to prove that you can. Deep down in human existence there is an experience of doing whatever is necessary to feed and comfort the self, because there is no one else to trust, no other purpose to serve, no other god to follow. For ages and ages, this experience has been called sin—deadly alienation from the source of all life.
In other words, sin is living life on your own terms. It’s individualism at the expense of the community. It’s choosing to surround yourself with likeminded people and exclude from your circle those who don’t meet your criteria. And when we do that, we exclude the Creator who created all things–and people–and called them good.
I like to think that the simple act of going to church is a repudiation of such sin. We’re choosing to interrupt what we think is important and do what’s really important: being with a group of people who, by definition, are doing the same thing. They, and we, are breaking down “them” and “us.” We’re affirming being part of a new, larger group defined not by our individual wants and needs but, rather, God’s.
See you in church.