Reverend Paula Skiles

February Message

LEAVING IT TO THE SNAKE

"So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members." (Rom. 7:21-23 NRSV)

When making New Year’s resolutions, we are usually so full of positive intentions, but, six weeks later? For many of us the goals we started out with in such excitement are now kind of a stone around our neck…if you know what I mean. We may attribute this to being lazy or an inability to commit, or any number of sins we may be telling ourselves we are committing. In starting out this next year, let us look at how we want to do good - but end up not doing it.

Contrary to modern popular Christian teachings, sin is not the dominant metaphor for "what is wrong in the human condition." For example, infirmity, slavery, hard-heartedness, being beaten down, exile, blindness, etc. are equally seen as images for the human condition in the Bible. Actually, what we need is not forgiveness for the perceived sin, but liberty from bondage to sin. Marcus Borg said, "People in bondage need liberation from the Pharaohs who rule their lives, people in exile need to leave Babylon and return home, people who are blind need to see, people who are sick or wounded need healing…"

When Paul is saying, "Making me captive to the law of sin," it’s not meant as an excuse…but a recognition of what many of us know from personal experience, that we are often not free, but captives. Marcus suggests, "When we are in bondage to sin, we don’t need forgiveness (though we may need to forgive), we need liberation from bondage." We need a path of return to freedom- we need the "way of the Lord" as Isaiah 40:3 puts it.

The "way of the Lord" is an image of what the parables of Jesus are about. He deals with sin that is systemic, such as Paul is referring to. When this sin is systemic, what is needed is deliverance or in other words, a change in the system. If we are having difficulty following through this New Year, perhaps what is called for is a re-centering of the self- we need to center ourselves in God. If we are being ruled by "Leaving it to the snake" [going along with how things are, what others say to do, or complacently accepting something less than or letting others decide your life for you], it will create despair if allowed to progress.

When something seems to rule over us that is not in accord with our resolutions, rather than focusing on being a slave, imagining that the Pharaoh’s power and control over us is invulnerable, centering in God is the path of return, libration, and wholeness. In this case, the change we need to make to our internal systems is a deeper and deeper centering in God rather than the problem (sin). Remember it was God’s Will and proclamation that His people be set free. Being centered in God allows God’s passion of liberation, reconnection, healing, wholeness and a world of justice and peace for us to be carried out in our lives. Thank you Spirit!

Rev. Paula