Sometimes we fold the newspaper with a loud crinkle. Sometimes we purse our lips as we press firmly on the remote to shut off the TV. Sometimes we slam down the top of our notebook computer. The problems of the world frustrate us or even horrify us. We know that we did not invent the question “What is the world coming to?” People have asked the same question for a long time. The longer that question persists, however, the more we agonize over when anything might improve. We knew racism existed in the days of Martin Luther King Jr., but we thought it would dissipate like the morning fog. We thought we would have a peace dividend after the end of the Cold War, but the bloodshed goes on. As Christians, we look at violence, greed, oppression and hatred and label those things and other such things as “sin.” The sin of the world weighs on us.

            We do our ministry to feed the hungry. We do our ministry as peacemakers. We do our ministry to heal. Yet, the more we pour ourselves into those ministries, the more frustrated we feel when the problems just continue, with no apparent end in sight.

            Of course, when we look at ourselves honestly, we find sin in our own hearts as well, though we tend to see the sin of the world and the sins of others more clearly than we see our own. Sometimes, however, our guilt threatens to overwhelm us. Our sin harms our relationships with others and with God, even if we think we have hidden it carefully away.

The Day of Atonement

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