Richter, Isaiah, & Absolution of Sins

Yesterday, there was an earthquake in the East Bay area which measured 3.4 on the Richter scale (this I didn't know until an hour later when someone emailed to the faculty a section of an online news article from the San Francisco Chronicle). We felt the tremor while sitting in chapel for Ash Wednesday, during the reading of Isaiah, waiting for the absolution of all our sins. The meaning would be lost on many people, but some will realize the irony and significance of such a "coincidence."

At lunch in the refectory today, I sat next to a few CDSP seminarians debating the question of whether or not it is possible for an individual to be bound to hell by another individual(s) and/or a community. One bearded fellow remarked that yes, but not entirely, and no, but not entirely. A certain pale-skinned, blond-haired woman offered the hypothetical situation: what if a man were so hard-pressed that he is eventually "led" to stealing bread for his children; she posed the question, isn't that a condition of being "forced" into sinning by a certain individual or community or circumstance? Another short-haired woman--a cheerful, robust one with a very positive outlook on life--countered that one would have to (re)define "sinning" and "sin" in order to examine that particular context fully; because, how could such a situation be considered sinning, she asked? Would we not have to look at the rules for necessity of survival, she wondered. The cheerful one, she believes that it is entirely internal and that one's decision to turn to God depends entirely on one's self.

Relational beings. Aren't we formed by the communities (or lack thereof) that surround us? No one self could be formed sans the influence of some structure that in one way or another effects our understanding of God. We aren't so independent as we'd like to think. Our human frailty inhabits us and those weaknesses allow us to be tempted, swayed, persuaded by our surroundings. It's about our continuous efforts to turn towards God, to meet God, even though we are weak.