SPIRITUAL POSTING, June, 2019, from Rev. Bill Charles
As it says in Romans 3:23 (NIV), “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Our identities as sinners are, if the Apostle Paul is correct, as common as it gets. It must be said, though, that each person’s sinning takes on an individual character. No two sinners are alike. For so many of us, our confession of sin in public is a group event aloud and a quiet event in private. The occasional sin is shared on an individual or small group level for the most of us. There are persons whose public lives require the occasional public confession of sins when they fall short (famous persons, mostly), and it is on those occasions when being pretty much unknown looks pretty good.
There are, though, folks whose sense of sin seems to require a more public display on their part. I don’t understand it, but there it is. Guilt for some is a very big deal. I confess to being made uncomfortable by those folks, but my comfort or discomfort is not the point. I believe people need to approach God as individuals. Perhaps I should be learning a thing or two from those folks!
Last month, Marge and I visited Columbia, South Carolina, to witness grandson Michael Allen’s graduation from the University of South Carolina. Many people were assembling outside the basketball arena for what was to be one of several graduation ceremonies to accommodate the thousands of graduates. The excitement for me was enhanced by a marching brass quartet playing and a group of robed academics attending the carrying of the University Mace (four feet of symbols fashioned out of silver and gilt made in London, England in 1967) as it was paraded through the city streets. “The mace is carried in procession on occasions of outstanding importance, such as commencements, convocations, and formal dedications. The placement of the mace on its stand signals that the proceedings are about to come to order. The retirement of the mace indicates the conclusion of the exercises.”
The accompanying picture indicates that there was a variety of drama on display that day, not always authorized by the University. One fellow made his sinner’s status as well-known as possible. Drivers and pedestrians alike could not miss his proclamation of guilt. This was no hasty decision. The quality of the sign, the timing, and the chosen site testified to careful planning for maximum effect. I have no plans to become a sign-carrying sinner, but I recognize that I need to take my sin seriously, recognize it for what it is, and add my efforts to those of the Holy Spirit to get my act cleaned up.
THE PICTURE: A sinner pleads for forgiveness under an elaborate sign amidst the graduation traffic in Columbia, South Carolina (May, 2019).
A PRAYER. God, sin and its consequences are ever with us. If our worries are exclusively for the problems of others, we are ourselves in big trouble. Give us, we pray, the resolve and wisdom to face our sin, ask for the forgiveness we need, and to be forgiving to others in the Spirit of Christ Jesus. Amen.
