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Morning Meditation
August 6, 2026
(81st anniversary of the first use of a nuclear weapon at Hiroshima)
Book of Common Prayer: Holy Eucharist, Rite 1
This is a true saying, and worthy of all to be received, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
If any sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the perfect offering for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world.
(1 Timothy and 1 John)
Meditation by Peter Vanderveen
On any given Sunday, these sentences can be given a fairly innocuous reading. After all, they only appear in the Rite 1 service, and even there they are listed as optional. Some refer to this part of the liturgy as the “comfortable words,” serving as a verbal bridge between the Absolution and the Peace. And it’s easy to hear them only for their personal assurance and not take notice of their full measure and weight.
But do they mean what they say?
The long tradition of the church has made us all familiar with the idea that Jesus’ death and resurrection have opened for us the forgiveness of sin and, in blunter terms, a very narrow escape from some imagined, ultimate judgment. (It’s nearly impossible to conclusively eliminate the fascinating counter-vision of a hell, along with the threat that we’re precariously dangling just above it). Yet, in Jesus, there is now before us the possibility – previously unavailable – that we can be saved. But we have made this contingent on whether we ourselves believe adequately or act appropriately. In essence, we find it irresistible to insist that it is still very much within our own capacity to deny God the efficacy of what was accomplished in Jesus. We can just say “No” and have our own way. And God’s grace is foiled.
But doesn’t this, then, make Jesus’ offering far less than “perfect?” Perfect is a demanding standard; just one exception would disqualify the term. And John reiterates the strength of God’s perfection by stating that the salvation given us in Jesus applies to “the whole world.” “Whole” leaves no remainder. It is similarly absolute. No one is excluded. And, all the more, no one can choose to be excluded. In this way, grace is triumphant, not conditional.
The hard question is whether we have courage enough to believe that this is actually true, that God can be God and not just another actor in the sways of history. God’s undeserved salvation is God’s judgment. Can we rejoice in this? So many resist it. Many others refuse it, doggedly. But I try to read these sentences with the full conviction that they deserve, for they change the entire landscape of faith. Fear and threat and the woeful baggage of guilt are all removed. And what opens before us is the freedom to revel in the wonder, joy, and love that is intrinsic to all of the creation and made immersive in Christ’s passion.
Prayer
Father in Heaven! Hold not our sins up against us
But hold us up against our sins
So that the thought of Thee
When it wakens in our soul
Should not remind us of what we have committed
But of what Thou didst forgive
Not of how we went astray
But of how Thou didst save us.
Kierkegaard
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