The sermon series has been on The Lord’s Prayer. Last week’s was on the line ‘give us this day our daily bread’ and was just not good (or rather, it wasn’t good to me). This week’s was on the forgiveness line (whether or not you say it with debts, trespasses, sins, or something else).
I grew up saying trespasses and for the past 8 years have said debts; but I remember a sermon at Old South where an anecdote was given about a church in Connecticut deciding what to say, and ultimately voting on sins – ‘forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us.’ I think that was the first time I ever heard it said that way. And it stuck with me – mainly because it’s easier to understand the meaning. But in Sunday's sermon, it was given a new perspective. Pastor D’Elia said that debts and trespasses are both breaches of human interaction, a horizontal action if you will. However, sins are breaches with God, a vertical action. That makes the use of ‘sins’ in the prayer that much more relevant and applicable and understandable to me.
Other things that were said in the sermon and service that stuck with me were :
-- To whom much is given, much is expected
-- Reach out and let the spirit of God touch you
-- If we lose our sense of what sin is, how do we confess?
-- Be a living example of God’s mercy
-- The concept of justice versus mercy.
Mercy, not judgment. I like that.
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2 comments:
I'm clearly no expert on this but as I first read it, I thought that was the difference between sin and trespass, one against God the other again man.
So if a sin is something a human does to God, what does "those who have sinned against us" mean? I don't think God sins. Maybe it should be "forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have trespassed against us"
Then I started thinking about the 10 commandments, violating any of them is a sin, right? Many are specifically against God, but several are more about interactions with humans, honor your father and mother, adultery, murder. If you kill someone, have you sinned against them or God or both? If sin is only "vertical", then the first and third choices are invalid and then I don't see how someone can sin against you. If it's only vertical, then it seems to wrong to say murder is a sin only to God but not to the victim. So I'd guess a sin is vertical but can also be horizontal.
The Mac dictionary says a sin is "an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law". Makes it perfectly clear. :)
Howard, hello! I don't know you, but Megs has often suggested your blog. I shall check it out! I agree with your logic here and think sin is the most appropriate choice.
Growing up in the Methodist Church, we always said trespass. Several years ago, I began attending a non-denominational church which did without The Lord's Prayer altogether. (They also did without stained glass widows in favor of Power Point, but that's for another blog entry.) While attending that church, I started my own little tradition. Since they weren't saying The Lord's Prayer as a congregation, I said it on my own as I took silent Communion. I simply can't imagine going through an entire church service without it. In fact, I tend to say it in lieu of attending services. The Lord's Prayer sometimes means just as much when voiced in a virgin forest or along the Pacific coast as it does in the confines of a man-made sanctuary.
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