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Come back sin, all is forgiven?
Monday, Week 2 |
Reading
Romans 3.21-26
But now, irrespective of law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.
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Reflection
Sin is a word and concept that has found its way into popular culture. But instead of referring to the utter depravity of the human condition, it’s associated with eating something you really shouldn’t, or telling a little fib. It’s come to be a word you use in quotation marks with a wink, a fun little phrase that indicates something is naughty but nice.
What happened to sin?
Sin, for Christians, is really about separation from God. It’s about those choices we make and temptations we fall victim to that are contrary to what God wants for us.
Sin is really about ruptured relationships – with God, with one another, with ourselves. Between individuals and communities, in ways small and big, sin is what keeps us isolated, hopeless and suffering.
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Challenge
There are relationships in all of our lives that aren’t as we wish they would be.
Today, try praying for God to bring healing to those relationships.
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Today's family challenge
Ask at least two people you know what they think ‘sin’ means?
Sin is often seen today as doing something ‘naughty but nice’. For Christians, though, sin represents everything that spoils our relationship with God and others. |
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Download our Lent app
The app is available to download from the Apple store and Google Play store
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Explore our family activities calendar
Every day of Lent we have an activity for children and families in our app. |
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The reflections are taken from the booklet Dust and Glory: A Lent journey of faith, failure and forgiveness <link to follow>, which is published by Church House Publishing and copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2023 and used here with permission. They are based on Failure: What Jesus said about sin, mistakes and messing stuff up, The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2023, written by Bishop Emma Ineson and published by SPCK, which is copyright © 2022 Emma Ineson and used here with permission.
Except where otherwise specified, Bible readings are taken from The New Revised Standard Version (Anglicized Edition), copyright © 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. All rights reserved. |
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