Sin, Sorry, Salvation?

We all do bad things. We all 'sin'. What we define as 'sin' may change from person to person, but most of us would happily agree that we all do it. Of course, the obvious question is, what do we do about it?

I can't fault the Christian idea of repentance. It's not exactly a pure Christian idea as such, but we'll run with the Christian interpretation of it for now. The first step towards 'recovery' from a sin is to recognise its sinfulness, then feel remorse. The problem for me is what happens next. The number of times I've heard the absolution in church and not really felt as if anything's really happened to the bad things I've done is almost innumerable. I'm sure being forgiven by a deity is a wonderfully comforting thing for people, but I don't feel as if I need it. Once I've taken time to reflect on and repent of my sins, I feel that, along with the forgiveness of the person I've transgressed, is plenty enough for me.

I'm also not happy with the idea of 'remission' of sin - I don't want my sins to go away; I want them to stand over me as a reminder so that I might think twice about committing the same sin again.

I know that this isn't the way in which the vast majority of Christians understand the idea of forgiveness and remission of sins by God, but it's the interpretation I've taken away from my Christian upbringing: Sin, Confess on Sunday, no more sin, clean slate, rinse and repeat. It's made me feel almost guilty of the fact that I'm confessing at all - I should apologise by not doing it again, not by saying "sorry, I've sinned again, how about another pardon?"

To finish on a slightly lighter note, another prayer that (even though the second line is slightly hollow when I say it) I admire the sentiment of:

The Choristers' prayer:
"Bless, O Lord, us Thy servants who minister in Thy temple.
Grant that what we sing with our lips we may believe in our hearts,
and what we believe in our hearts we may show forth in our lives.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

FiF

Dear God, from me...

Language. It's a fascinating subject, especially the fact that our language that we think in constrains and limits what we are capable of thinking. I'm no expert on any of the myriad subjects that I've just skimmed upon, but I love the idea nonetheless.

I'm sure my Islam lecturer will agree with me when I say that I think that prayer and poetry have a lot in common. Having been brought up by anglican collects and specific prayers, I love the way that one can, with a little time and effort, add a beauty of eloquence to a prayer that can (in my opinion) make it that much more uplifting.

Whilst I obviously (see previous posts) see limits as to the direct effectiveness of prayers, I think they're a fantastic way of getting ones thoughts in order. What do I want from life? Where is it going wrong? What's gone right? Prayers are not simple. If they were, I would simply pray for the health and wellbeing of everyone ever, amen. It can be a deeply profound personal and social tool for spiritual consolidation and development, and of course a source of hope and comfort for those who do believe in the classical idea of prayer.

To finish, an example that I've listened to innumerable times at the end of a service, but still find a fantastic piece of eloquence and verbal skill:

God grant to the living, grace
to the departed, peace
to the Church, the Queen, the Commonwealth and all Humankind,
unity, peace and concord.
And may the blessing of God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit
be with us and remain with us always,
Amen.

FiF