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We all know the story of Adam and Eve. We could almost tell the story of their creation and subsequent eviction from Eden all the way through by heart. We know the story and we tell the story because it our story; it is the story of us.
Most of us can remember our own loss of innocence – the time you saw your father’s change lying on his dresser and slid one quarter into your pocket, only to turn around and find him standing at the door; the time you were arguing with a sibling only to find yourself so filled with rage that you lifted your fist in the air and brought it down across their face.
In flashes of anger or rage, in coveting relationships, in jealousy and lies, in these ways and so many others, we rupture relationship. Perfect bonds are broken. And while moments pass, and we move on with our lives, things are never quite the same again. We lose our innocence.
Sin, at its very core, is the rupturing of relationship - with God, with neighbor - the turning in on ourselves to feast on our greed and impatience, our lust and our anger, our power and our selfishness.
From the first moment we lose our innocence, sin becomes easier and easier. It becomes our natural way of life. And so, to disrupt the natural way, a savior was born. We call him Emmanuel, God-With-Us. And this Christ has not just told us, but showed us, that our way was wrong, all wrong. And that he is the means by which the rupture of relationship is mended, the rupture of sin is healed.
Our upcoming Lenten season is a beautiful time to re-enter a deep and real relationship with God and one another. A time that is set aside, set apart, to shift the way in which we think, moving our thoughts from simply being about me and mine, and into the recognition of us. The rebuilding of our personal encounter with the Living God remains key to the Lenten Season – the God who waits for us in the beautiful silence of the coming Lenten season.
Regardless of where we have come from, and where we are going, let us take time over the next few days to witness those pieces of ourselves that are rooted in self-interest, self-aggrandizement, and self-promotion. Let us prepare our hearts this Lent to encounter the patient God, who never tires of offering us mercy, and wholeness, a relationship of love.
Have a question about a program or event going on in Campus Ministry? Got an idea for something you'd like to see happen? EMAIL US at ministry@sau.edu.
