Chris Campbell

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

Beloved in the body of Christ,

Sin is paradoxical. It is that which we must avoid, yet it is also what defines our very existence as mortals. As such we must look at what John says: “If we say that we have fellowship with [God] while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true”. We must ask, how do we “walk in the light” while still existing in the darkness of our sinful lives?

This is a difficulty I find myself in daily, as I am sure many of us do. When our selfhood is tied to sin our very souls are hurt and bruised. This can be felt in many ways while we are alive, in guilt, depression, loneliness, boredom, etc. But often it is hard to see this for what it is.

In his ‘Confessions’ St. Augustine speaks to a very direct tie between sin and suffering, that sin itself is the suffering it inflicts rather than a cause of the suffering later. However, it takes great spiritual awareness to feel this, and when we direct our attention to this truth our lives become afflicted by suffering.

“To live is to suffer” is a notion that comes to mind for the type of life that comes from being in tune with my soul while existing in a world of sin. Yet I feel compelled to live this way, for, as John says: “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” And to confess our sins we must first recognize that they are there and carry that cross through life.

In our mortal lives, we exist as prisoners in darkened cells, but this darkness is intermixed with the light of God. The walls which separate us from God are our sin, but they, as is everything in creation, are intermixed with His love. And we know this, for just as a wall separates prisoners, by tapping on the walls they can communicate through them. This is how we know sin and love are both real and intermixed, as stone and mortar are in a wall, paradoxically that which separates us from God and which connects us.

As we have now, once again, experienced the suffering, death, and resurrection of our Lord, I ask you to join me in turning our attentions to the divine mystery of God, and picking up our individual crosses, so that we may suffer as He did, and rise up again by His grace into a new life.

May you live in Truth, Peace, and Love,
Chris Campbell