Devotion: Reformation!
Reformation!
Please read the scripture from the weekend: Romans 3:21-24
In our worship together, we confess our sins, known and unknown, and repent of them before we share Holy Communion. After we have been reminded that our sins are forgiven because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we are in a right relationship with God and ready to joyfully share the Eucharist.
Since my confirmation days, I’ve wondered about the nature of those unknown sins. I settled on the idea that they are minor transgressions, such as seeing but not really noticing that the woman with the squirming toddler on her hip could really use some help untangling the grocery carts. I blamed self-absorption for my failure to help.
In more recent years, I’ve begun to understand that my unknown sins and my focus on myself have much larger consequences. I’ve begun to recognize that my reluctance to examine some of the assumptions on which I live my life is sin.
Socrates said the unexamined life is not worth living. I might dispute that, but I know for certain that the unexamined life is easier. It is hard – very hard — to honestly consider that some of the things I believed about certain groups of people are wrong. Especially since many of those ideas came from my parents, whom I loved and respected and who were products of their time. In the front of my mind, I believe everyone is a Child of God, and we are all worthy of dignity, respect and concern. But the tape running in the background wants me to believe differently and behave differently.
It takes commitment and focus – and most of all willingness – to look for this sin and kick it to the curb. It means stopping short and then rejecting opinions that disparage any group or individual for their uniqueness or needs. It means believing their needs should be met and I have a part to play. It means speaking up so hateful speech does not go unchallenged.
Jesus says in Matthew Chapter 5 that if our hand or eye causes us to sin, we must cut it off or out so that our whole self is not lost to sin. The same applies to our hurtful assumptions that operate on autopilot. They have to go, so we can truly love one another as Jesus taught us. We offend the communion (or unity) we share as the Body of Christ when we think anyone is less deserving of God’s gifts.
It’s hard to change. By God’s grace, we have the gift of prayer and Jesus’ constant presence to help us. Thanks be to God!
Heavenly Father, as we remember this time of Reformation in your church, help us to reform our minds and our hearts so that we can love as Jesus loved. Amen.
Written by Cheryl Stubbendieck
Cheryl Stubbendieck is a member of Sheridan’s Devotion Writing Team. She leads the Wednesday morning Women’s Bible Study and she and her husband Jim are the editors of a quarterly journal about vintage side-by-side shotguns. Their family includes their son Aaron and his wife Chaitra and grandson, Theo, of Houston, TX, and their son Reed of Madison, WI.