This content has been archived. It may no longer be relevant
…From all blindness of heart, from pride, vainglory and hypocrisy…. Good Lord, deliver us…
1 John 1:8-10 (The Message) If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—simply come clean about them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we’ve never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God.)
Ephesians 4:17-18 (KJV) This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
From Phil:
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you look in the mirror this morning you will see a sinner, a person who has missed the mark of who God intended you to be. If you are like me, you miss that mark several times a day. Too often my life is like a line from an old Dan Fogelberg song: (A true “blast from the past!” The 1975 live performance here:)
I have the moments so steady and strong, feeling so holy and humble, the next thing I know I’m all worried and weak and feel myself starting to crumble,
The days miss their mark and nights get so dark, and you don’t know what you’re going to do next, You wait for the Sun but it never quite comes…
( from Part of the Plan)
One of the disciplines of Lent is taking time for reflection, honest reflection. What are your struggles, what sins continue to entangle you ? Where have you been blind to sin, prideful that you think you are doing good, when in reality you are rolling in vanity and hypocrisy? For me, that is where I often find myself.
I am reminded of a camping trip I took with my Scout troop too many years ago. We went camping in a large cave in East Tennessee. After getting a mile underground, we bedded down for the night and all lights went out. I’ve never experienced such darkness before or since. As I lay in the dark, I decided I wanted a snack. My pack was right next to me, so I dug out my cup of Jello Snack Pack chocolate pudding and spoon. I was sure I could do this in absolute darkness.
With great confidence I sat up and opened the pudding and with great relish devoured my snack. I was even able to put the empty cup, top and spoon neatly away into my pack. I was proud of myself. However, when the lanterns were lit the next morning, one of my Scout mates looked over and exclaimed way too loudly; “Good Grief Parsons ! You’ve pooped all over yourself !” (That’s the PG version)
Sure enough, there was chocolate pudding all over me, in my hair, on my shirt, all over my sleeping bag and pack. I was a mess and ridiculed for the rest of the day. Although I tried my best to clean up, I was stained with pudding until I got home.
That is what happens when we grope along in the dark without Jesus. The story may be funny, but this sin-stuff is serious business. We often think “I got this” when all we are doing is making a mess. Lent is the time to turn on the lights and look at the disasters we have made in our souls. It is the time to look for the stains and ask Jesus in His mercy to clean us up. In fact the prophet Joel insists that we rend our hearts open before God, not our garments. (Joel 2:13) Rip it open and look inside. That’s not a very pleasant spiritual discipline but so necessary for God to heal us.
Peace. Phil Parsons
* * * * *
From Rodger:
Aside from my initial distraction with Dan Folgleberg’s help at the start – a nice trip down amnesia lane for certain!… I needed first to get a bit of help to make Cranmer’s 16th century speech translate into my 21st century world: “Vainglory” is defined by Mirriam-Webster as “an excessive or ostentatious pride especially in one’s achievements.” the secondary definition is “a vain display or show: “VANITY.” Which almost instantly brought to mind the opening verse of Ecclesiastes: “Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” Which pretty much sums it up for us, doesn’t it? Aside from perhaps Brother Lawrence, Mother Teresa, or maybe Thomas Merton, that summary points to us all. And if we’re being honest? We do NOT like admitting it. In fact? Many people have become experts at denial when dealing with this subject. When we try to wrap our heads around this built-in condition called “sin,” we all need some remedial work.
“Well… maybe I did cheat on my taxes last year; but I’m not as bad as that Davey Jones who beats his wife all the time!” “Oh, I might tell a little, white lie now and then… but I don’t cavort around looking like a…” (fill in the blank – you’ve undoubtedly heard them all.); “We are better than those folks at the church around the corner! Have you seen what they get up to?” Yadda, yadda, yadda. We’re “not bad,” or “better than most.”
All of which means absolutely nothing when it comes to the Greek word for sin. ἁμαρτία (hah-mar-TEE-ah) is the Greek noun that translates as “sin” in practically every usage of the word, but it comes from the verb ἁμαρτάνω (hamartanō), which literally means “missing the mark.” It’s an archery term, which means your shot missed the bullseye. Interestingly enough? Hitting the 9-ring – just outside the bullseye – is considered the same ἁμαρτία as missing the whole target. 9 ring, 6 ring, white 1 or 2 ring, or even hitting one of the cows grazing out beyond the bales of hay… in terms of “missing the mark,” it’s all the same. Let any of us try to win the whack-a-mole game called pride.
It’s not that common, or perhaps I should say not often admitted, but Protestant Christianity here in America has had a big problem with this very idea. We’ve fallen into the trap that “Job’s Comforters” did in Job chapter 2. Job’s lost his wealth, his health, his family, so the obvious question they ask is “What did you do wrong Job? Because if you aren’t blessed, if your life is a mess, then you’ve no one to blame but yourself.” The prosperity gospel’s roots are plainly visible in this nonsense. To admit that your life isn’t all peaches and cream was – at least prior to about 1935 or so – tantamount to admitting your spiritual inadequacy. If you lost your job? Or your daughter came home from summer camp pregnant? The very first question was, “what did you do wrong?” Because if you were being a “good Christian” then, of COURSE, nothing like this would or could happen to you, right? All this “sin-stuff” (as Phil calls it above) is what happens to those baaad people; those black sheep who God must not love because look at how ruined their lives are!
I mentioned 1935 because that’s when Bill Wilson and Bob Smith teamed up to start Alcoholics Anonymous. And AA, proclaiming a message not from church pulpits but most often from the unfinished basement rooms where meetings were held, in a very real sense, brought the church back to the notion that, whether we like it or not, we’re all broken. This thing called original sin isn’t something every single person chooses to indulge themselves in – just like every single alcoholic doesn’t make a conscious choice to drink themselves into a ruined life. The AA message is that we’re all broken, but instead of hiding it, or ignoring it, or God forbid, lying to ourselves about it, we can help one another deal with it and support each other while seeking the very deliverance that the Great Litany is asking on our behalf.
Phil hits the bullseye with his thought about Lent being a time for honest reflection. What are those struggles we so desperately try to hide? Where do we “miss the mark?” (By an inch or by a mile makes no different at all.) Where are we blind, not willing to admit our brokenness… hiding behind some unholy relativity; “Well, I’m better than the other guy, so maybe 1/2 way counts for something! (Hint: It doesn’t – not with sin.)
It doesn’t have to be this way. But two final things need to be said. When it comes to sin, the “first law of holes” applies:
And the second is similar, and truly comes to us as a gift from so many men and women who have struggled and, with the help of AA, figured out something everyone might want to pay attention to. Even though we are all broken and sinful, we can still help each other out of the mess we’re in – with Jesus’ help and a clear-headed understanding about what’s needed to deliver us from ourselves. Leo McGarry said it really well to Josh Lyman some years ago: