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LENT ARRIVES AGAIN

Transgression is not a word that we use often these days but it is very much a part of the fabric of our lives. In the biblical terms, transgression underlies the human story from its beginnings. The very first act by Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis was a transgression of defiance against God. Eve knew exactly what she was doing. She had heard God’s warning and understood that if they ate of the forbidden tree they would die. She does not make an impulsive decision but spends several verses wondering, hesitating and questioning. After the serpent tempts her with the promise that she and Adam will become like God “who knows good and bad,” she decides that it’s worth the risk.

Why did God plant that tree in Eden in the first place? All people are faced with difficult decisions and questions of morality through out our lives. Do those decisions play a part in how we learn and grow, and even move toward God? Judaism provided many laws and guidelines, and yet every moral question invited other conflicting opinions about how to proceed. In the Talmud, there is a story in which the rabbis pray for the end of the human inclination to transgress, what they called the evil inclination. God answers by warning that without that evil inclination the world could not exist. Nevertheless, the rabbis persist. God relents and banishes any tendency by humans to do evil. As a result, no children are born, no villages or houses are built, no work is carried out and life comes to a standstill.

As hurtful as our transgressions can be, either to ourselves or to others, there can be no life journey without them or the risk they involve. Sometimes the only way to move forward is to “take a bite of the apple” and to suffer the consequences. We should never fear that God will strike us down for decisions we make or actions we take but we should always understand that there are consequences. Paul said, “A man reaps what he sows (Gal.6:7).” Consequences are built into all actions and decisions, good or bad. Punishment is usually unnecessary. Our suffering, or the suffering we cause, is not from God, it is from ourselves.

Lent is that time we take to review our lives and to reassess the direction of our journey. We consider our transgressions against God, our neighbor, and ourselves, but will hear no actual absolution or words of forgiveness in worship until they are spoken at the end of Holy Week. That old tradition in the church allows Christians to sufficiently “wonder, hesitate and question” who we are, before God – who knows very well that by nature we are inclined to evil, to doing, thinking and saying some very defiant things – until we hear our own Lord’s absolution from the Cross, when he prays, “Father forgive them, they know not what they do.”

Join us for a Holy Lent,

Fr. Bruce Evenson