“Therefore, just as
sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death
spread to all because all have sinned…” Romans
5:12
A look at the fossils embedded in limestone quarries shows
that thousands of species of animals lived, died, and became extinct before
humans ever developed in the Great Rift Valley of east Africa. Stars that are
10 million light-years from earth need 10 million years for their light to
reach us, in which time they may have died, far before humans ever walked the
savannahs. Everything in creation comes into being, lives, and dies –
mountains, deserts, brachiosaurs, galaxies, humans. It is a part of the great
becoming of the universe. So what do we do with a statement like Paul’s, who
alone among Biblical writers seems to regard death as the result of human sin?
Better, perhaps, to focus in on what Thomas Long calls “big ‘D’ Death,” rather
than “little ‘d’ death”: that is, death as spiritual separation from all that
gives us life and wholeness and joy.
Surround
us with your steadfast love, O God, that we may be glad and rejoice. Amen
- Create a small Lenten group
to study together: perhaps one book of the Bible, a novel, a devotional …
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