Jesus can say a lot in a few sentences and this week’s Gospel is no exception. From sin to reconciliation, to the answering of prayer and then to the presence of God among the people.

Whoa … can we slow it down a minute.  I’m trying to wrap my head around sin and how we ought to treat one another.

Jesus said, hey let’s talk to the person we feel has sinned, personally. No, we don’t talk to someone else first. We talk to the person. That’s brave. Or at least that’s my first reaction. Because it sounds like conflict. But maybe it’s not.

 I think about my children and my role as a parent to provide an example, to give correction and praise. When they erred, when they behaved badly, when they needed correction I didn’t go and talk to my neighbor about their behavior. Of course, not -- I talked to them. Maybe that example is just too easy, too simple. However, the text does say … if a member of your community, your church, which we do very often call our family. 

WE know how complicated it gets when we talk to others instead of the one who sins. The harm grows. Hate increases, as does the malice. And if I use the analogy of my children, if I’m relying on my neighbor or friend to get the info of my dissatisfaction, or sin, or error to my kids it’s unlikely the words of correction are going to be received as I would have intended. We have all played the telephone game and know it is unlikely that the words spoken are the words received.

 

I love my children enough to give them correction to right our relationship.  Yet, even in my extended family, with my brothers and sister, I have spoken to one about the other. So, I’m not at all perfect in this process.

Years ago, I worked with a priest who spent a great deal of time, having come through a schism in the parish over issues of sexuality and marriage, helping us be ‘grown-ups’. To be adults, with each other. Those were important lessons that I valued and tried to learn. 

In this parish we have had some practice learning to talk to each other as grown-ups. These words are more than just good advice from the Gospel, it is Christ centered behavior and leads directly to grown-up community, healthier families, more direct communication. Our open communication leads to this ability to come before God with clean hearts, more available to love each other and hear the work God calls us into.

+Rev. Alison