PASTOR’S CORNER

I was wearing my clerical, a black shirt, and clergy cross, after services at a church, while walking through a Wal-Mart in Vernon, Texas. The woman I was dating had a mischievous streak. She knows Lutherans do not call their pastors “Father.” She ran up to me from behind, slipped her arm under mine so we were walking together, and loudly said with a big smile, “Father, is it true we’re supposed to confess all our sins?”

She says I turned red. Far from ending that relationship, I married her. You may have met her.

This is Lent. This is a time to recall we are indeed sinners. The Apostle John puts this simply, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” 1 John 1:8 (ESV).

We don’t simply make mistakes. The Christian is both saint and sinner. There is not much worse than diluting the reality we are sinners by saying, “We only make mistakes.” Only God is holy, infinitely moral, perfect, and without sin. Though, I’d say it is worse for a preacher to say, “I’m not a sinner,” or “I no longer sin.” For then the Pastor bears false witness, models an untruth, and contradicts the Bible. After all, the Apostle Paul says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Sadly, many object to saying, “I am a sinner.” They won’t look into the mirror of God’s Law and see reality. So, they fail to see the full significance of God’s provision for us.

In Lent we don’t dilute sins by calling them mistakes. Instead, we acknowledge their gravity, their seriousness. After all, God takes them so seriously that God the Son becomes flesh (Christmas), and rides into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday), to die in our place for our sins (Good Friday), and rises for our salvation ( Easter). Jesus does not take our sins lightly. Jesus takes the full weight of our sins upon the cross. Then, in triumph, He rises bodily from the grave.

(Editor’s Note: This column is written by a different Littlefield pastor for the Leader-News each week. The columns are published on this page on Wednesdays.)