How to Be a Sinner

By focusing on the spirit as much as on the letter of the law, his commandments become part of a whole way of life, informed foremost by love.

“I am a sinner” means that you have lost command of yourself and you on your own cannot regain it. You must submit to God, who is in control. Understood this way, saying “I am a sinner” means, “God, your will be done.” Lastly, Webber writes, “The title ‘alcoholic’ is worn as a badge of honor, and it gives the bearer a sense of belonging in a group

Our inmost self is good and true. We are not totally depraved. But we are deeply confused. And sin is there to confuse us.

“Mercy” is the usual translation for the Greek eleos and the Hebrew hesed. Both eleos and hesed are also rightly rendered as “loving-kindness.” Both also imply “grace,” in the sense that this love is undeserved. It is pure and voluntary on the part of the bestower. The Greek eleos also calls to mind “oil” (in Greek elaion), which carries its own sc

Spiritual and physical sickness are bound up with each other, and so are spiritual and physical healing. Keep

During the Canon of Repentance3 we pray “Give me understanding, O Lord, that I may weep bitterly over my deeds.” The reason we want this understanding so much that we pray for it, is that it constitutes true perception of reality. That perception brings inner freedom, compassion, and the freedom from judging others.

If we preserve, as we should, that purity of heart, the watch and guard of the intellect . . . this will not only uproot all passions and evils from our hearts; it will also introduce joy, hopefulness, compunction, sorrow, tears, an understanding of ourselves and of our sins, mindfulness of death, true humility, unlimited love of God and man, and a

That means that we might reduce by at least one person—ourself—the number of judgmental and resentful Christians, which is surely a worthy goal!

Living with and living into another’s total love—especially God’s—is painfully humbling.