In today's epistle lesson, the Apostle Paul describes his personal situation in terms we can relate to because we have all felt that very same way at one time or another. Elsewhere (Rms 3:23), he recognizes that we "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." How do you define sin? Think about that for a minute. For me, it is anything that I allow to separate me or take my attention, my love, away from God and from others. It makes its home in my self-centeredness. It shows up in my judgment of others, in my exasperation of others not seeing or doing things my way, in the unexamined aspects of culture that I continue to ignore.

The Book of Common Prayer offers us general language for confessing our sins and avowing our repentance for the things we've done and left undone, for those known and unknown. Those we know about are easy for us to lament, tie up in a bundle of repentance, and lay at the foot of the cross, trusting in Christ's reconciling grace. It is the unknown, those that are dwelling deep within, where sin dwells, that we need help with, that we need to ask God to bring into our consciousness, to open our eyes and heart to recognize all the places where we are unaware of our failure to love. A deep and searching self examination is needed to ferret out our unknown sins.

If the epistle passage speaks to you today, I urge you to spend some time in silence, in the presence of God who loves you beyond what you can imagine, and ask the Holy One to awaken your heart to realize where you, in your ignorance, continue to go astray. You can trust the Beloved to stir up an awareness of what has been going unnoticed in your daily life and begin the healing, cleansing, refining, and transformation you need to walk in God's way in the here and now.

Thanks be to God!