Tag Archives: sin

Sinking sand

A little Lenten story An English seaside town, its name suffixed with something left behind by the Romans. A sandy beach with buckets and spades, Punch and Judy, donkey rides, sandwiches gritty with their namesake, seagulls looking for leftover ice … Continue reading

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Karl Barth, St Paul, and the stickiness of sin

“Who … is aware of man’s real wretchedness, save he who is aware of God’s mercy?” Barth lectured his students in Bonn. We know our sin, we are convicted of it, Paul discovered his error in persecuting the followers of Jesus only when he was confronted by the living Christ himself, the revelation and reality of God’s saving mercy. Continue reading

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America, it is past time to repent

The deadly combination of targeted hatred coupled with widespread individual armouries – an obscene proliferation of weapons of death tucked into our daily life – continues to wreak havoc among us. This is the product and the consequence of sin. Continue reading

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Penitence

After William Wordsworth’s “Preface to Lyrical Ballads,” 1800 Recollected in tranquillity, passions burnt beyond their embers. Unguarded breath conjures dust devils, smoke without fire, echoes of disgrace remembered by the ashen light of dawn. Dignified in variegated gray, sifted, judiciously, … Continue reading

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What is it to you?

Every day. Every day I confess my sins, my sinfulness. Every day. But Job asks, “If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of humanity?” Yes, Job is feeling reckless; that recklessness that hold hands with despair, … Continue reading

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