Such Talk!

I am sharing today a short passage I came across yesterday.  You don’t hear much talk like this these days. 

“The story of the prodigal son is one of our favorite stories because it assures us that no matter who far we have gone from God and no matter what we have done, we are always welcome home.  Jesus died with his arms wide open as an everlasting reminder of our pardon, and all who have been baptized in his name have received the forgiveness of sin.  Why, then, should we speak of sin anymore?  Why dwell on the failures God has promised to absolve?

“The only reason I can think of is because we believe that God means to redeem the world through us.  We have been chosen, in the language of Genesis, not only to be blessed but also to be a blessing to all the families of the earth.  Our participation in that high calling requires us to understand God’s grace as something more than the infinite remission of our sins.  If we want to take part in the divine work of redemption, then we will also understand God’s grace as the gift of regeneration—the very real possibility of new life right here on earth—complete with new vision, new values, and new behavior.

“As wary as I am of pious calls to perfection, it does seem to me that too many of us have given up hope of new life for ourselves or for the families of the earth.  It is easier (and less painful) for us to rely on God’s forgiveness of our sins than it is to believe that God might support us to quit them.  But how can we quit them if we have forgotten what they are called? 

“Abandoning the language of sin will not make sin go away.  Human beings will continue to experience alienation, deformation, damnation, and death no matter what we call them.  Abandoning the language will simply leave us speechless before them, and increase our denial of their presence in our lives.”—Barbara Brown Taylor in “Speaking of Sin, The Lost Language of Salvation”