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We seem to be living in an age which is surrounded by a culture of denial
and whether we are aware of it or not that culture is affecting all of
us since we are immersed in it on a daily basis. It affects our relationship
with one another - it affects our relationship with God. Denial, or more
specifically not facing up to responsibility, takes place at all levels
of society: from the highest corporation in the land, to public services,
to individuals of all walks of life, all ages: we've seen it this week
in the high profile case of the Soham Murder Trial, but it was there before
Soham, it will be with us after Soham. One of the consequences of this
culture of denial is that 'sorry' seems to be a word which is being removed
from our vocabulary, or at least it seems to have become the 'hardest
word'. To admit we are 'sorry' in this age brings with it the risk of
litigation, to be an admittance of fault, to admit that you've made a
mistake, that you have done something wrong, that you are responsible,
you are to blame. But that can't be possible - it's not my fault, I've
nothing to be sorry for, I haven't done anything wrong, somebody else
is to blame, somebody, anybody, not me, not me. Denial seems also be linked
with the need to blame somebody else and that's nothing new. We read in
Genesis that 'It was the woman you put with me, she gave me some fruit
from the tree, and I ate it'. That first denial, that first refusal, did
no one any favours: our own denials do us no favours.
Yet to fail to own up, to recognise fault, to acknowledge the reality
of sin in our spiritual life, our life in Christ can have serious consequences.
That culture of denial may even be a cause of the Church being on the
verge of being one of six rather than seven sacraments. St. Jerome, writing
in the early centuries of the Church's life recognises that human trait
of denial, of not acknowledging sin: he states that 'if a sick person
is too ashamed to show his wound to the doctor, the medicine cannot heal
what it does not know' Sin is not something we should seek deny, to brush
under the carpet, to put on the back burner: we need to look sin squarely
in the face, recognising it for its true nature, confront it, own up to
it, to name it. Left alone it never remains passive, it remains like a
wound that festers, like battery acid it eats away at the very core of
our being.
We worth much more than that We need to be adult about it. When we were
baptised something dramatic happened. These waters are here to remind
us of that. When we were washed in the waters of baptism we assumed a
new dignity, we became the light of Christ to the world, clothed in white
we were to be his witness, his proclamation to the world. Through sin
that new creation clothed in white becomes something else, a person we
were never meant to be: we become something less, less of a gift for the
world: we develop wounds which hinder our progress towards God, moving
away from him rather than towards him. Yet He never fails to move towards
us, we can try and deny that but His voice within our conscience will
always seek to call us back to him. Our wounds do not have to fester,
we do not have to live in denial: the way to health, the way to restoration
is open to us: the wound is not terminal - it can be healed, it will be
healed.
To be childish about this truth is to deny the reality of sin, to deny
the wounds we have. What we would have the consequence of stating that
we are 'alright on our own thank you very much': we have no need of redemption,
no need of a saviour, no need for Christ to come: his birth in Bethlehem
while providing a nice revenue for the Christmas card industry would really
be meaningless, his death on a cross pointless, and his resurrection well
that would be of no significance whatsoever. To deny the reality of sin,
would in truth be a denial of our faith, of our real need for Christ.
Christ who came to put right the 'happy fault, the necessary sin of Adam'
that we might be healed, that the wounds we possess may be transformed
by his life, death and resurrection. That through his wounds we might
be healed, transformed into a new creation, that we may turn back to him,
He who is full of mercy, gentleness and compassion: the kind physician
who will heal us, achieving what he was sent to do.
Tonight, He is calling us to turn back to him, to be restored to the state
we were in at our baptism: to have our shame and guilt removed, that our
sins may be washed turning from scarlet to being whiter than snow. Always
we have to do is to live a life free of denial, to be open with him, honest
and truthful, naming and shaming those sins we have committed, showing
the doctor our wounds, that we may be healed: that we may be restored:
that we may live the life God wants us to live.
Deny no longer - live no longer in darkness, turn towards the light.
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