Forgive Us Our Transgression
“Blessed are the ones, / happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, / whose sin is covered.” — Psalm 32:1.
Some of you know this about me. I would presume others don’t. Many moons ago, I worked on Wall Street. Now, one of several jobs I had there was a position called ‘Head Runner.’ A Head Runner dispatches messengers, commonly called runners, to banks and brokerages with deliveries of stock and bond certificates.
Deliveries were made against deadlines so a ‘Head Runner’ needed an intimate, personal knowledge of where each and every delivery window for each and every bank and brokerage on Wall Street was located. And you needed to know how long it took to get from one delivery window to the next to the next to the next on foot.
Why did one need to know all this? Each messenger sent out did multiple deliveries. Building an efficient route meant less staff was needed to do deliveries against those aforementioned deadlines. So, based on that knowledge, the ‘Hear Runner’ made decisions as to who got what deliveries— let’s face it, some messengers were faster afoot than others— and on what the best route might be.
I feel compelled to point out Wall Street firms do not, largely, employ people for this work any longer. Deliveries of this sort are now, mostly, done electronically. Stock and bond certificates are rare and have nearly gone extinct. (Slight pause.)
One day, in that position as ‘Head Runner,’ I decided to hang up a sign in the runners bull pen which said: “Do It Right the First Time.” You see, sometimes runners would go to the wrong place or cover their route in the wrong sequence and a failure to deliver a certificate in a timely fashion would get the delivery rejected. That mistake would cost the company money.
Now, one of the companies for which I worked was located at Five World Trade Center. It was one of the short buildings in the Center, only nine stories tall. But still, these buildings were huge. Each floor had about 120,000 square feet of office space.
When I posted that sign— “Do It Right the First Time”— my boss took me to the middle of the floor to where you could see the whole floor end to end. And there was row after row after row of desks— clerk after clerk after clerk after clerk.
My boss raised a hand, pointed to one end of the floor and said: “You see all these people?” The other hand then pointed in the opposite direction, both arms outstretched. “These are my people. Do you want to put them all out of work? It’s their job to correct the mistakes other people make. If we have everyone doing it right the first time, all you’re doing is putting people out of work.” (Slight pause.)
He was not kidding. Mistakes create jobs. But is it that simple? A friend with whom I worked on Wall Street once said this: “Most people think in order to do as many trades as we do we need to be super organized and keep close track of everything.”
“However,” said my friend, “if truth be told what happens here is nothing more than chaos. It’s organized chaos, but it’s chaos.” Chaos— hence, row after row and desk after desk staffed for correcting... mistakes. (Slight pause.)
And these words are from the work known as Psalm 32: “Blessed are the ones, / happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, / whose sin is covered.” (Slight pause.)
So, what is a transgression? Is it a mistake? Is it something we do wrong? (Slight pause.) To use the classic word, a transgression could be called a ‘sin.’ But what is a sin? Indeed, what is the Biblical definition of sin? (Slight pause.)
The Biblical definition of sin is not about making a mistake. No one is perfect. So, it’s not simply about doing something wrong, although mistakes and wrongdoing can sometimes fall under the category of sin.
The Biblical definition of sin is ‘missing the mark.’ Missing the mark means there is a rupture, a break in someone’s relationship with God and with other people.
So, what does it mean that a Psalm, a writing from the Hebrew Scriptures, insists God forgives transgression? After all, don’t we Christians say Jesus died for our sins? How can it be that the ancient Israelites saw God as forgiving? (Pause.)
Robert Bell is a best selling author and the founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Attendance at two services on a Sunday in that church runs in the neighborhood of 11,000.
Yes, it is one of those independent so called ‘mega-churches.’ And yes, the message Bell offers often leans, at least a little, to the theological right.
But Bell’s theology has been slowly evolving. And with the announcement of a new book, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, Bell has set off a firestorm of criticism against him from those on the right side of the theological equation. Why? What follows is a transcript of a video Bell released to promote that new book which is scheduled to be published on Tuesday.
(Quote:) “Several years ago we had an art show at our church and people brought in all kinds of sculptures and paintings and we put them on display,” says Bell. “...there was this one piece that had a quote from Gandhi in it; and lots of people found this piece of art compelling.”
“They’d stop and stare at it and take it in and reflect on it— but not everybody found it compelling. Somewhere in the course of the art show someone attached a hand-written note to the piece. On the note they had written: ‘Reality Check— Gandhi is in Hell.’”
Pastor Bell then asks: “Gandhi is in hell? Is he? And someone knows this, for sure, and felt the need to let the rest of us know?”
“Will only a few, select, people make it to heaven? And will billions and billions of people burn forever in hell?”
“And, if that’s the case, how do you become one of the few? Is it what you believe or what you say or what you do or who you know— or something that happens in your heart?”
“Do you need to be initiated or baptized or take a class or be converted or be born again?” Here Bell asks a question which has probably crossed the minds of each and every one of us: “How does one become one of these... chosen few?”
“And then there is the question behind the question, the real question,” Bell continues. “‘What is God like?’ That’s because millions and millions of people were taught that the primary message— the center of the Gospel of Jesus— is that God is going to send you to hell, unless you believe in Jesus.”
“And so, what gets, subtlety, sort of taught is that Jesus rescues you from God. But what kind of God is that— that we would need to be rescued from God? How could that God ever be good? How could that God ever be trusted? How could that ever be good news?”
Bell is blunt about the possible outcome here (quote): “This is why lots of people want nothing to do with the Christian faith. They see it as an endless list of absurdities and inconsistencies and they say: ‘Why would I ever want to be part of that?’”
“See, what we believe about heaven and hell is incredibly important because it exposes what we believe about Who God is and what God is like. What you discover in the Bible is so surprising and unexpected and beautiful that, whatever we’ve been told or taught, the good news is actually better than that, better than we could ever imagine.”
“The good news is that love... wins— love wins” [1] — Pastor Rob Bell. (Pause.)
Today we will dedicated quilts made by the Chenango Piecemakers. They will go to Chenango Memorial Hospital for newborns and to Roots and Wings for the domestic violence program. Why? We believe, the Chenango Piecemakers believe— love wins. (Slight pause.)
Are we perfect? No. Do we make mistakes? Yes. And God forgives. Why? God loves. And love wins.
Indeed, as we go through this season called Lent, let the life, the ministry and the death of Jesus, which we commemorate, be a reminder to us that the story does not end there, does not end with the death of Jesus. Let us remember that Jesus is the Christ— Risen, Resurrected. Why? God loves. Love wins. Amen.
03/13/2011
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “So, if God forgives, what is the function of Jesus? Some Christians make the mistake of misrepresenting Jesus by insisting only Jesus is God and Jesus only is God. Christians and Christian theology very early on identified Jesus as the Second Person of the Trinity— Three Person, One God. That is both a paradox and ambiguous. But Christianity has lived with that paradox and ambiguity for about two thousand years. I want to suggest that Christianity is not uncomfortable with paradox and ambiguity. Modern society is, however, uncomfortable with paradox and ambiguity. I think that’s why some buy into the possibility that love might not win. And, of course, love is riddled with paradox and ambiguity.”
[1] This quote is taken directly from the promotional video for the book Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. The words have very, very, very slightly edited and none of the meaning has been lost.
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