The fact that we still had a Christmas wreath on our front door yesterday, and the white poinsettia in the house looks quite fresh is something of a symbol of just how fast life seems to be moving these days - almost as if it were on fast forward. Could it be that the season of Lent is really upon us? Judging from the volumes of pancakes and sausages being consumed in parish halls and church basements all over the Diocese of Montreal this past week, it must be so! Shrove Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, has come and gone, and Ash Wednesday has ushered in the new season whose first Sunday we celebrate today with this beautiful Lenten procession and its challenging readings.

There is a strong tradition in the western Church that marks Lent as a time with a heavy emphasis on sin, and the need for repentance and discipline. That is not, of course inappropriate, but what we have understood about that has become unhappily overlaid by culture and language that makes Lent in our time a most unattractive and even offensive discipline. It is a problem that began with the translation of the Scriptures from Greek to Latin. The more ancient language had fallen into disuse, and the intention of the Latin translation was precisely the same as that of Cranmer in producing the English Prayer Book - that it might be available in a language understanded of the people. Unfortunately translation always brings with it the risk of changing the original meaning and intent. And that is just what happened when the translators looked at the Greek word for sin - hamartano -and chose to translate it as peccatum. That choice was to have a snowball effect down through the centuries. Hamartano is the same word that is used when an archer misses the target he is aiming for. In English it would carry the sense of missing the mark, or not being as proficient as we could be. Peccatum, however, the Latin word, is the same word that is used to describe criminal offences in the Roman law courts. In English it carries the meaning offence or crime. What an unhappy shift in meaning! The Latin mindset understood that crimes must be judged as to their gravity, and that an appropriate penalty should be attached to each one. An elaborate system was developed in which sins were classified as casual, formal, venial and mortal. Venial sins had consequences for one's communicant status, and mortal sins had eternal consequences.

what we have understood about (sin) has become unhappily overlaid by culture and language that makes Lent in our time a most unattractive and even offensive discipline.

As in our modern legal system , there was the option of settling one's debt to God and the Church by paying a fine, and that extended even to mortal sins. By the payment of sums set by the Church from time to time one could reduce his time in purgatory, and in fact one could even post bail as it were, or pay the fine to reduce someone else's time in purgatory. St. Peter's in Rome was largely financed by the sale of such indulgences. At the time of the Reformation the currency of this penitential system changed to prayers, calculated in the number and frequency that they were said.

By the time of the Reformation the mindset of human criminality had set in to such an extent that Protestant preachers gave few signals to suggest that humanity was any less inclined to evil than had their Catholic predecessors. Western Christians seemed to agree that such an inclination was inescapable, and deeply grounded in the Original Sin of Adam. In one sense what the Reformation did was to remove from its adherents the thought that the penitential system devised by the Church could have any effect in removing the guilt. .Little wonder that people in every age have thought of religion as a pretty solemn and heavy business. Our own Anglican tradition, though less inclined to such things than either Protestants or Roman Catholics, still retained in its worship a heavy emphasis on the burden of our sinfulness. The Prayer Book rite for Baptism speaks of the fault and corruption of the nature which (we) inherit . Our public worship invited us to think of ourselves as miserable offenders, and to say of our sins that the burden of them is intolerable; the remembrance of them is grievous unto us. Lent was a time to meet these realities head on ~ to confess to God and one another, and to forge new resolve for living a holier life.

the Eastern Churches generally have held to a view of sin much more closely aligned with the meaning of hamartano

Now let us consider another view, unsullied by the unfortunate translation to which I referred. The Greek Church, of course had no need of such a translation, and as a consequence the Eastern Churches generally have held to a view of sin much more closely aligned with the meaning of hamartano. Of course humanity is sinful. We fail to live up to the best of what we can be. We fall short of the mark. But God forgives, and helps us to do better. The sin of Adam does not carry the weight of fundamental human corruption that it was given in the West, and sin is not treated in the same way as criminality. Lent, then is a time to own that we are not all that we could be, and we use it to study again the vocation of Christians in the world, and improve our aim, as it were.

What connects these reflections to the text is the phrase believe the good news. So long as we are burdened with a sense of sin , and the inevitable inclination of humanity to evil, life is a discouraging journey. The coming of the kingdom of God in our midst is unlikely to strike us as anything other than bad news. If, on the other hand, we understand sinfulness not as criminality or intentional perversity, but as a matter of prompting us to shoot straighter and better, then there is more likelihood that we will see the coming of God's kingdom as good news.

The world of children is a world of do's and don'ts, rights and wrongs, rules and regulations and boundaries. Perhaps too often children have heard the threat "Wait 'til your father comes home! ".. and seldom was it perceived as good news. Emphasis on codes of behaviour, of course is important for children.. It is needed for the child to learn basic life skills for its own safety and well being. But adulthood brings a new world view. We begin to realise as we mature that behaviour is best governed by relationship rather than by coercion and the threat of consequences. When we love one another we behave in a way that seeks to please and serve one another. When we learn to love nature, we behave towards it in a way that protects and enhances it. We move beyond self interest to common interest. Our horizons broaden and expand. St. Paul addresses this phenomenon on a theological level in that much loved passage in I Corinthians 13.

The human process of growth and maturity is a complex and wonderful thing. But when it comes to religious thinking, speaking and reasoning, it is discouraging how many of us do not seem to be able to progress beyond childishness. I suspect that in North America the dominant religion is not Christianity, but morality. There is an obsession with getting it right, or at least seeking out and exposing those who get it wrong. And so serious is the consequence of exposure that most often such moments are met with denial. Do you hear an echo? The remembrance of our sins is grievous unto us; the burden of them is intolerable.

there is no commandment to be right, only the commandment to be loving

Yet as we peruse the Scriptures we find that there is no commandment to be right, only the commandment to be loving. The mature Christian is therefore on a journey to become more and more loving, understanding that in the process we will make mistakes, and one hopes learn from them. You will remember, no doubt, that St .Paul ends that wonderful chapter with the words;

The Kingdom of God is wherever the Love and Justice of God governs. In fact, Jesus says , The kingdom of God is within you. We know of course that much else is within us as well, and we long for the realisation of that profound truth. Lent is a wonderful opportunity for us to encourage one another in the discovery of that mystery, and translating it into lives that reflect the love and justice of God, both individually and collectively as communities of faith. It is right for us to use this time as an intentional challenge to that hubris that so easily tempts the human spirit. It is right for us to be saddened by our failures to hit the high mark of our calling. Let us remember that we are forgiven for that, even before we ask, and strengthened to carry on with a new sense of faith and purpose. . Let us put away childish things and move beyond them toward the full measure and stature of Christ who was no slave to rules and regulations, but the servant and incarnation of God's love.

Copyright © 1997 Andrew S. Hutchison, Montreal.

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