Issue 248 - Sinners, Debtors, or Trespassers?
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July 2021
Many years ago, while Bill was pastor of a church in New England, an official from the denominational judicatory came to meet with a church committee. As the meeting drew to a close, he said, “I have just one more question for you: Are you folks sinners, debtors, or trespassers?” An awkward silence ensued, before he explained that he wanted to close the meeting with the Lord’s Prayer, and just needed to know which wording he should use.
"Are you sinners, debtors, or trespassers?" That question prompted these reflections.
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“Are you sinners, debtors, or trespassers?” Many Christians pray the Lord’s Prayer at least once a week. Depending on the liturgical tradition, those praying in English may say either “Forgive us our sins” or “our debts” or “our trespasses."
The most frequently used word for sin, in the original Greek of the New Testament, is hamartano, which at root means “to miss the mark,” like an archer who misses the target. So that’s one image of sin: We miss the mark, we fall short of our goal, or we go astray. To trespass suggests another image: We go too far, we breach some boundary that we are not authorized to cross. Debt suggests yet another image: We have incurred an obligation that we have not, at least not yet, repaid.
It is best to see these varying words as suggestive images, not hair-splitting definitions. (In Matthew 6, where Jesus teaches the disciples to pray, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” he uses one word for sin. Just two verses later, he uses another when he says, “For if you forgive others when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive your sins.”) To put it another way, no one word can capture the full range of ways we human beings can mess things up!
Frederick Buechner once described sin this way: “Sin is whatever you do, or fail to do, that pushes [God and other people] away, that widens the gap between you and them and also the gaps within yourself.” Truly, no one word can capture the full range of the manifold ways we humans can mess things up, can widen those gaps.
The good news is that while we are called to repent of sin, to turn away from sin, it is not our task to bridge those gaps by ourselves. Last Saturday, while listening to a recent podcast of worship from Taizé, I heard this line from a prayer: “We thank you, God, that you bury our past in the heart of Jesus.” Yes! God buries our sins in the heart of Jesus; thanks be to God!
-- Bill
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When you have an ecumenical heart, you tend to have a greater respect for God’s people and the way they pray. When people go to their house of worship, prayers arise to the same God, the same God who looks upon us as beloved children. We know this through God’s Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, who calls us friends. So why can’t we children and friends all get along? Why can’t we all agree – are we sinners, debtors, or transgressors?
So should we pray this way? “Forgive us our sins, debts, and trespasses as we forgive sinners, debtors, and transgressors.”
Forgiveness for all is not easy. There is residual umbrage that we sometimes carry long after the offense. It lives rent-free in our soul and body. Years ago, my massage therapist, Paul Frizzell, identified physical knots of resentment and taught me this prayer, advising that I say it every evening. With God’s grace, it is a healing balm for sins. debts, and trespasses.
I forgive all men who have harmed me, real or imagined. I ask forgiveness of all men whom I have harmed, real or imagined – past, present, and future. I forgive all women who have harmed me, real or imagined. I ask forgiveness of all women whom I have harmed, real or imagined –past, present, and future. I forgive myself for the harm I have caused myself, real or imagined – past, present, and future.
--by Jan
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Two musical settings of the Lord's Prayer.
First classical ...
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Copyright (c) 2021 Soul Windows Ministries
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Sincerely,
Bill Howden and Jan Davis
Soul Windows Ministries
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