Faultless?

In this Sunday's reading from Romans (7:15-25a), it sounds as if Paul were at an AA meeting: "Hi, my name is Paul, and I'm a sinner." He says, "I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do." Admitting our faults does not come easy. In an age where "image is everything", we want nothing more than to pose a posture of "everything is fine" to others. This facade of faultlessness can even creep into the church, where programs, committees, and people can be held to impossible standards. The church could use some of Paul's AA-like humility, and be a place where we can be real, rather than pretending. "I can't hold it together anymore." "My life is out of control." or "I need help." These simple but difficult admissions that none of us is faultless become the crack that lets God's mercy work its way inside. This is what AA's sixth step is about: allowing God to remove our defects of character. Thanks be to God that when we admit our faults, God comes all the more closer to us, and we rejoice with Paul that Jesus "rescues us from this body of death"!

What faults are you struggling to let show? How does naming them bring God closer to you and others?

Identity and Difference

This Sunday, June 26 the lectionary catches us six chapters into Romans (6:12-23). Since Easter was so late this year, we've missed several weeks of earlier passages that help put this in context. To catch us up, here is one of the key themes we'll be talking about that's already been introduced: the relationship between our culture and our faith. Divisions had arisen in the Roman Christian church because after Claudius had expelled Jews (including Jewish Christians) in 49 C.E., Jewish Christians returned to find their church was now run by Gentiles whose numbers had increased. Tensions were inevitable. How could they now live together as God's people, coming from two very different cultures? How could they remain different and yet share a common identity? In this Sunday's reading, Paul takes the approach of seeing each of us, Gentiles and Jews, as slaves, and that we can either become slaves to sin or to God's righteousness (6:23). The good news is, "we have been set free from sin" and can live in the realm of right-relationship with God that Jesus won for us! Our identity in living out of that realm challenges us to fully rely upon God's merciful love.

This week's question is: what barriers, differences and challenges block you from living in your God-given identity? What helps you to live in the realm of God's grace rather than sin? (Share your comments and questions below!)

Peace,
Pastor Jon