First Sunday of Lent

Lectionary: 22

But the gift is not like the transgression.

For if by the transgression of the one, the many died,

how much more did the grace of God

and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ

overflow for the many.

Several months ago the New York Time embarked on the 1619 Project, a consideration of slavery in North America, and especially the United States, since the first African slaves arrived in 1619. The study highlighted the destructive and ongoing influence of our peculiar institution on American life: especially business, but also churches, families, and neighborhoods. Slavery, racism, segregation and similar words are used to describe "America's Original Sin."

Today's readings for the First Sunday of Lent invite us to consider Original Sin and the "gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ."

The 1619 Project, understood in the light of this Christian doctrine, should remind us that we cannot blow off the reality of sin. This is not somebody else's problem. Whether we experience sin as racism, abortion, violent crime, sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse; nuclear arms and warfare, environmental degradation, alcoholism, drug abuse, the scandal of bad priests in the Catholic Church, or the epidemic of suicide, it's clear we are all involved, engaged, victimised, and guilty. Some might argue they are more sinned against than sinning, but none can escape Saint Paul's indictment, "...thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned."

"All men" also engage in a form of coverup, the pretense of being without sin, guilt, or shame. How often do we pray, "I thank you God that I am not like the rest of men?" And yet, despite our reputed innocence, we don't hesitate to claim Jesus of Nazareth as our Lord and Savior.

Because Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit throughout his life, especially as he went to meet John in the Jordan River, we can suppose that no one can recognize, acknowledge, confess, repent, or atone for their sins without the Holy Spirit.

If we cannot recognize Jesus but for the Spirit that rests upon him, neither can we call ourselves Christian without the Spirit. The word, after all, means Anointed by the Spirit. Jesus the Galilean and his disciples are christened by the Spirit of God. And if he can stand with us in our sinfulness, surely we can admit,

We have sinned like our ancestors;

we have done wrong and are guilty. (Psalm 106)

Our ancestors include those who captured, traded, owned, and drove slaves. They include Klansmen, the designers of Jim Crow, and the Christian clergy and lay who acquiesced in the practices of segregation. No political party, church, or industry is innocent of this heritage. Racism was the driving force of mechanized warfare as European nations fought over their empires from the Napoleonic era, through the "World Wars" to the present. Today's scourge of Islamic terrorism is the inevitable result of the attitudes and exploitation of despised "races."  I read Karen Armstrong's The Battle for God in early 2001, and was not surprised by September 11. 

It is not difficult to own this history.  When I admit that the Lord created me in pure goodness, without necessity; and redeemed me with gracious mercy, and has given me the Spirit of Jesus to lead me out of the sinful past that is mine and ours, I can only thank God for revealing my sins to me. I may experience shame as I ponder the scope of Original Sin, and helplessness as I realise the feebleness of my good works. But I have hope also, for the Spirit that impelled Jesus moves me and those with me.

We are doing penance together; praying, confessing, fasting, and acting as God's holy people.