Uncool Slang

A recent CNN story listed slang words that have fallen from fashion. The list included: groovy, neato, hip, slick, keen, chill, NOT, outta sight, far out, dynamite, phat, off the hook, sweet, radical, fab, rad, wack, square, and nifty.

A list of uncool theological words would surely include sin. Perhaps sin was a label applied to so many things that it no longer referred to anything. Maybe it was used too often without grace showing up in the next sentence. In her book, Speaking of Sin, Barbara Brown Taylor tries to recover the lost language.

Deep down in human existence, there is an experience of being cut off from life. There is some memory of having been treated cruelly, and--a little deeper, perhaps--the memory of having treated someone else cruelly as well. Deep down in human existence there is an experience of seeing the light and turning away from it, either because it is too beautiful to behold or because it spoils the dank but familiar darkness. Deep down in human existence there is an experience of reaching for the forbidden fruit, of pushing away loving arms, of breaking something on purpose just to prove that you can. Deep down in human existence there is an experience of doing whatever is necessary to feed and comfort the self, because there is no one else to trust, no other purpose to serve, no other god to follow.

For ages and ages, this experience has been called sin--deadly alienation from the source of all life. . . . It is a name for the experience of being cut off from air, light, sustenance, community, hope, meaning, life.

Still, Taylor suggests that "sin is our only hope." Unless we recognize that our soul's incurvature has turned us away from God, away from others, and away from life, we will never appreciate the enduring popularity of grace.

Bob