(Chris Hanson provides a thoughtful connection between our liturgy and our space in this world. I am glad for his voice and reflectivity in this piece. Take this in and let it shape as it has shaped Chris’ thinking and practice. --Dianne)
Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your Name.
Amen.
Most of us grew up in a religious environment that taught us that sin is the thing that we as individuals do to put distance between ourselves and God. Sin could be the way in which we did wrong publicly, and could also be the result of all of the little thoughts we had in our own minds that weren't 'pure'. In either case, for most of us, sin has been all about "me" and about how "I" have individually failed to meet up to the standard that God expects of me.
I started repeating the liturgy that we quote before communion each week when Linda and I came to Christ City a couple of years ago. At first, I thought of my own selfishness, greed or anger each week as I repeated "sinned against you". I thought of those whom I had injured when I said, "not loved our neighbors as ourselves". And I asked God to help me to do a better job the next week when I echoed, "forgive us, that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways".
But over time the liturgy drew me deeper. Over time I started to see that this liturgy omits the word "I" and uses the word "we" over and over again. This idea pulls us into a deeper understanding of sin as collective sin. In ancient times, the sin of the people collectively led to the annual banishment of the scapegoat. Each year, at Yom Kippur, one goat had the sins of all the people placed upon it and was exiled into the desert. The sins that the chosen goat carried were the sins of the people - all of the people.
Jesus furthered this idea when he condemned entire cities and groups for their collective wrongdoing. To us, as individualistic thinkers in the western world, these broad generalizations can seem unfair but they point out the way that Jesus recognized collective sin.
So maybe when we repeat the communion liturgy we are saying that we are part of a world that is far from perfect. We admit that terrible injustice persists and that often people act out of selfish motives in ways that harm others. We recognize that privilege exists in many ways and that this inherently disadvantages some in favor of others. We observe the suffering that comes from storms, fires and floods and consider how our stewardship of this earth may have contributed to the pain. And we realize that we often do little to right the wrongs but many times feel overwhelmed at the seemingly unsurmountable nature of these problems.
But just as we start to feel hopeless over this collective sin, the liturgy reminds us of the importance of loving God with our whole heart and loving others as ourselves. Perhaps we lack the ability to repair the broken systems, but we can take a step toward treating others realizing that they are God's children. We can share the pain caused by collective sin and sit in the suffering of our fellow humans. We can promote the ideals of justice. We can bring light to those who suffer in darkness. We can look for Christ in the world around us every day. And we can participate in the communal path of "walking in your ways" one day and one interaction at a time.
Lord, have mercy on us and let us walk in your ways.
Chris Hanson