Half a Gospel?

Has the Church been preaching half a gospel?

The immediate answer is, of course, a question: which part of the Church? The Church is a large and varied organisation and it is dangerous to generalise. But has at least parts of the Church been preaching half a gospel?

And by that I mean we have so much to say about the sins we commit, about forgiveness and the need to forgive. We have plenty to say about how the cross enables our sins to be forgiven. But what about when we are hurt by other people? What about when we are caught up in situations larger than ourselves when there is no good thing to do? Often the issue is more more complicated than the question can I be forgiven for the wrong things that I have done?

How will I deal with my anger when someone hurts me (just keep swallowing it)? Does God care about the trauma of the victim? Is 'forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us' really all we have to say to the traumatised, the victim of hate crimes, the sinned against? Does the cross have anything to say to us when we are the victim as well as the perpetrator?

This is a huge question that theologians are beginning to take more and more seriously. But here is one thought which has most helped me. The cross helps when I am sinned against because it refuses the lie 'this action did not matter.'

To be honest, when I have done something wrong I do not really want to hear, 'you are forgiven', I want to hear 'it did not really matter'. But when I am hurt I need the acknowledgement that this action did matter, it did hurt, the pain and the anger is real and God fully understands that. If God had forgiven our sins from the safety of heaven with just a word then God would have sided firmly with the perpetrator. But God did something very different and simultaneously forgave and exposed the real cost of sin.

The Gospel is about more than sin and salvation, more than being forgiven. But if we could just say more about the way that God holds together the needs of the victim and of the perpetrator (and we all both at some time or other) then we would be closer to a full Gospel.

Why blog? Especially on sin, guilt and shame

Why blog? Especially on such a miserable subject?

Because I've been thinking about the issues for some time and attempting to write a book; but that seems years away. Yet I cannot get away from the sense that there is something important here, that I (and other Christians) need to think through. Blogs need to make sense, but they do not have to be perfect - and may be part of the reason that I am struggling with the book is not just sheer lack of time, but also the tyranny of trying to answer every possible question.

Because if even one or two people join in a conversation with me, that will help my own developing thoughts immeasurably. I want to do theology in community.

Because the word 'sin' sounds old fashioned even to me (and I've been going to Church all my life) and yet to talk about it is to talk about things that make a huge difference to all of us, taking responsibility for our actions but also being gracious to others and to ourselves, escaping the blame game, forgiveness, why some people seem to struggle with guilt and others seem not to.....

Because the world has changed so much but the language used in Church has not; so when we talk about 'sin' people hear it differently today. And if the gospel is summed up as 'being forgiven for your sins' then it is very narrow and answers a question that no-one is asking.

Because I wonder how helpful our traditional services are for those who have been hurt by the actions of others.

Because... why not?