Original Sin

I often find myself in conversation with people who think that not only is Church is irrelevant, but that Sin is just some guilt trip being foisted on "mindless" people by the Church. Their argument continues along the lines of the "human potential for enlightenment" being the key answer to all of our social "problems" (i.e. Sin). As humanity moves towards a more enlightened state, we will naturally evolve our way into being a better society. Sounds good, in theory.

But I wonder why humanity seems to be unable or incapable of evolving this enlightened state? Based on our society's propensity for repeating the same mistakes, you would have thought we might have learned something by now - at least to evolve just a little.

Consider the eerie parallels between the Vietnam and Iraq Wars. In both conflicts, our government leaders selectively heard what they wanted to hear and, when facts didn't support their claims, they resorted to outright lies to justify war. In Vietnam it was the fabrication of the Gulf of Tonkin affair, in Iraq it was WMDs. Sins of violence and war can be traced all the way back to the Bible and beyond. How ironic is it that we who are created in the image of God are the only ones who make war? If we can evolve our way to enlightenment, wouldn't the self-interest of our own self-preservation have made that happen by now??!!

Original Sin is our self-centered, narcissistic desire to be god rather than humbling ourselves to the one true God. We would rather call the shots and do our own thing. Our inherent selfish narcissism doesn't want our motives or reasons called into question because any questioning we perceive as a personal attack on us. Our natural tendency is to justify ourselves any way we can rather than admit we are wrong because admitting we are wrong is admitting we are not god.

The Church (note the capital "C" - the universal Church not a particular congregation) was given the "antidote" to Original Sin. It is confession (rooted in the divine gift of humility), repentance (the means to turn back to God) and absolution (the assurance of God's complete forgiveness). This "antidote" isn't permanent, but it is available to us whenever we need it - and we need it regularly.

What a long strange trip it's been ...

Well, it's official - I'm no longer "Almost Reverend" ... "the reverend is in the house!" I was ordained along with two other amazing gentlemen, Tim Grayson and Dion Thompson, at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Baltimore today.

What an amazing service! It was classic Anglican "smells, bells and yells" - and an awesome site it was. Our daughters were torchbearers and our oldest got to ring the sanctus bell during the prayer of consecration. They handled the incense during the Gospel procession like old pros, even though it was their first exposure "up close and personal" to the smoke.

It really struck me how much our daughters prepared me for this day. Not just from their support and patience as I sweated out the many exegetical papers and the dreaded General Ordination Exams. It was more than that. It was the reality that being a parent taught me the meaning of being a "servant to all." Parenthood taught me to put myself aside for the sake and welfare of another. It hasn't been easy and I can't say I've always been "super mom" who suppresses all her identity for the sake of her children (and I'm not sure that's healthy anyway). But there is something in learning how to move at a different rhythm when your life revolves around having a baby, then a toddler, then a pre-schooler, then an elementary schooler, and now (for our oldest) a middle-schooler.

It's learning to be present rather than rushing to whatever comes next. It's learning that now is the most real and precious thing God gives us. It's getting outside my own head to give myself to something outside myself and not knowing quite how it will all turn out, but placing my trust in God that it will turn out ok.

I learned this from our children and I'll be a better deacon (and eventually priest) for it.

Sin of War

Our family watched the annual Memorial Day concert in Washington DC last night on TV. Each year since the beginning of the Iraq War, it has become harder and harder for me to watch this. I now cry through most of it, and so does Beloved Husband. Our girls watched it with us this year and our 12 year old daughter cried too. Too many young lives maimed and killed in a war which is eerily reminiscent of my childhood.

In 1965, satirist and mathematician Tom Lehrer released his album That Was The Year That Was with a song entitled Send the Marines. He introduced the song as follows:

"What with President Johnson practicing 'escalatio' on the Vietnamese and then the Dominican crisis on top of that it has been a nervous year and people have begun to feel like a Christian Scientist with an appendicitis. Fortunately in times of crisis just like this, America always has this number one instrument of diplomacy to fall back on."

Sadly, things haven't changed much, have they? Once again, our military is paying the awful price for our national diplomatic policy failures. Our volunteer military, a specialized fighting machine drawn from a limited population, keeps most of America from having to feel the sting of losing sons and daughters in battle.

As a nation, we have not universally sacrificed anything for this war. We whine about $3 a gallon gasoline but still fill up our SUVs at the pump. Compared to the rationing of food and goods in WWII which affected every American, we are sacrificing nothing. A few families have tragically sacrificed their sons and daughters and it is for them that I grieve.

In his book People of the Lie, Dr. M. Scott Peck talks about the evil of groups in his examination of the MyLai Massacre during the Vietnam War. It's a great book and I highly recommend it for people who argue that evil is some abstract idea. This book was written in 1983, and he prophetically wrote about the dangers of an all volunteer military as follows (my emphasis added):

Abandoning the concept of the citizen soldier in favor of the mercenary, we have placed ourselves in great jeopardy. Twenty years from now, when Vietnam has been largely forgotten, how easy it will be, with volunteers, to once again become involved in little foreign adventures. Such adventures will keep our military on its toes, provide it will real-life war games to test its prowess, and need not hurt or involve the average American citizen at all until it is too late.

1983 + 20 years = 2003 ... the year we attacked Iraq based on lies told to us by our president and government. In the same way, President Johnson lied to the American people about the attack on the Gulf of Tonkin (which never happened) justifying his "escalatio" on the Vietnamese and costing our country over 58,000 lives.

Things haven't changed.