(Photos by Carol Penner)
Who wants to talk about sin? Not me, that’s for sure. Most people I know are pretty stressed out; they want good news, not something that makes them feel worse.
As I write this my autocorrect keeps changing the word “sin” to “sun.” My computer can’t even believe I want to talk about it.
'Our wanting is deeply influenced by what other people want, whether it’s a glass of expensive wine or the meticulously curated Instagram holidays of our friends.' (Image by StockSnap/Pixabay)
Most of us are at least dimly aware that our thinking and behaviour is influenced in important ways by our social circumstances. We tend, in general terms, to think and act like those we surround ourselves with, those we rub shoulders with daily, those we hang out with on the weekend, those we worship with, those we sit in coffee shops or book clubs with, etc.
It’s become clear to me from a lot of the conversations occurring within Canadian Mennonite, especially in the letters to the editor, that as Mennonites, we’re not of one mind when it comes to sin. Now sin, generally, isn’t a terribly popular topic of conversation, even among church-going types. It tends to remind us of guilt trips and church splits—not things to talk about in polite company!
"The Wounded Heart of God: The Asian Concept of Han and the Christian Doctrine of Sin" by Andrew Sung Park is not light bedtime reading. Yet, I think this is one of the most influential theological books that I have read. The thorough articulation of the concept of "han" fills the gap of what I have noticed in trauma studies and trauma healing resources.
