As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.
John 15:9-14 (NRSVUE)

So, this Sunday is the first Sunday in our Lent season. As all of you know naman, Lent season is in preparation for Easter or Resurrection Sunday. This is when Jesus rose again. So that’s going to be a month from now — malapit na. And along with that, all the preparations that we as a community is going to face.

This is the season where we reflect on the life of Jesus — lahat ng drama bago siya mamatay at mabuhay muli. And in this season we are invited to pray, to fast, reflect, and to be charitable, which I encourage all of us to observe in our own little ways.

Even though some of us here are hindi naman Katoliko, and if hindi ka naman religious, the practice of abstinence and self-discipline is still valuable pa rin naman and something that we must all practice.

Lent season is not just about the disciplines in themselves. The challenge for all of us Christians this Lent is that these practices will eventually lead us to repentance and transformation.

And repentance and transformation all start with the acknowledgement of our sins as an individual and as a collective.

That’s why this afternoon we would be discussing sin — the nature of sin, and kung ano nga ba ang sin.

In the study of theology, sa mga may theology background diyan or nagse-seminary, we also divide theological topics into branches. Just like in science — sa science we have biology, we have chemistry, zoology. In theology, meron din. Dini-divide din natin yung knowledge or study ng theology into branches.

So in systematic theology, we also have the likes of Christology, which is the study that concerns the nature of Jesus. We have Soteriology, which we will be discussing in the coming weeks. Soteriology is concerned with salvation in the Christian sense. And for today we would be discussing Hamartiology, which is the study of sin.

So yung paglabas niyo mamaya, uy grabe, feeling niyo may MDiv na kayo dahil may natutunan kayong theology on this service. Pwede niyo nang i-flex sa mga friends niyo.

So why is it called hamartiology?

I-clarify ko lang: hamartiology is spelled — it’s a single word. Hindi siya “hamar” and “theology” with space. It’s from the Greek word hamartia, which means to miss the mark.

So in your New Testament books, when you read the word sin, some of those came from the word hamartia and is translated to sin in English. So I mention na some of those kasi hindi lang naman hamartia yung word for sin. There are many of that. But for this afternoon, we will be focusing on the word hamartia for sin.

There are some people who think na pag progressive ka wala ka nang konsepto ng kasalanan. Kasi nga if ang same-sex relationship ay hindi niyo naman tinuturing na kasalanan, then ano pang kasalanan for you? Since parang lahat naman ay pwede — diyan kayo nagkakamali. Kaya nga may community guidelines tayo.

The funny thing is, for some people it seems that being gay is the greatest sin that there is — even worse than the seven deadly sins.

It seems to be more acceptable to some than gay people getting married or being in a same-sex relationship. Para mas grabe pa ang reaksyon nila dito rather than a president ordering the killing of people, regardless kahit maraming inosente ang madadamay.

So the question is: wala nga ba tayong konsepto ng kasalanan bilang progressive Christians?

Not at all. Not at all.

In fact, the challenge with being a progressive Christian is that what we consider sins are sometimes those that are not obvious and sadly even considered as normal or acceptable in this society that we’re in.

Pumunta lang kayo sa news feed niyo at sa comment sections ng mga tita at tito niyo. Grabe. Hindi ko naman jine-generalize lahat ng tita, kahit ako naloloka minsan na grabe normal okay lang sa kanila ’to.

Minsan napapa-question ako: ako ba yung mali?

For example, killing people for the greater good daw is acceptable for some. Makikita mo yan sa comment section. Corruption — some people, even Christians, don’t even seem to care or are not angry with the rampant corruption that’s happening in our country.

Yung iba jina-justify pa at pinagtatanggol. Yung iba may pa-prayer vigil pa.

They are even more angry sa pagbuo ng relationships nating mga bakla and even with the recent Supreme Court decision allowing same-sex partnerships to co-own properties.

Mas kasalanan pa sa kanila na may dalawang babae o dalawang lalaki na magkaroon ng legal protection to own properties rather than their own favorite politicians na nagnanakaw ng properties that aren’t theirs and even killing innocent people in the process — and worse, using God to justify it.

And for some of us, we are not immune to societal sins that pervade us.

For example, rampant consumerism — from the belief that happiness lies in consuming more and obtaining things that doesn’t satisfy us. O ‘di ba? Ilan na yung nasa cart niyo?

O hindi ko kayo iju-judge kung kailangan niyo talaga ’yan — i-checkout niyo na. Kung needs naman, go, hindi naman kayo huhusgahan diyan.

Pero aminin natin, ’di ba, sometimes tayo can be consumeristic at times. Oo, ’di ba? O labubo — baka ma-bash ako. Ayon.

O next topic. Naku ito — how about our dependence sa social media? ’Di ba, na parang… o kita niyo, kahit ako parang social media na rin magsalita with that trend. Social media na nagde-dictate sa atin kung ano yung dapat nating magustuhan, who to vote, and what a good life is.

Huwag kasi kayong maniniwala sa aming mga advertisers. I’m raising my hand here, so baka mawalan ako ng trabaho next week. Oh ’di ba?

This just all points out na yung mga personal sins natin ay related sa systemic and social sin. But also alam ko din naman that all of us here are middle class and some are even considered poor. Wala naman sigurong nepo baby dito, no — except kay RD. Joke lang. Oo, mukha kasing congressman si John sa recent date nila, so parang nepo vibes ang dating.

So it’s okay. We are all just getting by for us to bear the burden of these complex systemic issues or sins that all of us are trapped in.

So ito na: What is sin and how do we know? Because for some pastors or churches, the very existence of our own church — MCC — and even me, your baklang lay pastor, is considered not just a sin but even an abomination that we deserve na maging panggatong sa impiyerno. ’Di ba?

For us progressives, that’s what constitutes sin: the likes of rape and abuse that don’t reflect Jesus’ command for us to love one another. Actions that cause real harm and pain that are felt, lived, and experienced — whether it is spiritual, mental, emotional, physical, sexual, and so on.

Sin is two gay men or women having a loving and life-giving relationship na hindi naman nakakaabala or nakakapanakit sa mga buhay ng mga taong naniniwalang isa siyang kasalanan. The sin in this scenario is their judgment and condemnation over something that God obviously intended to be part of the diversity of God’s creation.

And ito — ito na yung pinaka-favorite nating progressive pero pinakamalaking haggard din sa atin: it is condemning systemic or structural sins.

We also name and condemn systemic sins that bring suffering and harm to us and other people. These sins can be political, economical, and religious in nature — such as inequality, religious extremism, homophobia, misogyny, racism, environmental neglect, and so on. These are actually the sins that Jesus cared more about.

ossible ba na kahit busy tayo to work on social justice as progressive Christians, we still miss the mark — that we are still capable of hurting others and forgetting the way of Jesus this Lent season?

Now maybe this is a good time for all of us as progressive Christians to reflect on how, in our own ways, we are unconsciously becoming perpetrators also of the sin that we condemn.

Maybe we can ask ourselves: masyado na rin ba tayong nagiging katulad ng mga Pharisees that Jesus speaks against? That what we only see is the speck in our brother’s eye rather than the plank in our own eye? Sabi nga ni Jesus sa Matthew chapter 7.

Because of our hyperf...