Worship - 5 July 2026

Summary Of This Week's Theme

One theologian described sin in an unusual way. Rather than thinking of it simply as breaking rules or behaving badly, Friedrich Schleiermacher called sin ‘distorted vision.’ Our relationship with God becomes blurred, and when our vision is distorted, we fail to see God, other people, and even ourselves as we truly are.

That idea fits remarkably well with today's reading from Romans. At first sight, Paul seems to be confessing a personal struggle: ‘I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.’ Yet many scholars believe he is speaking not simply about individual failure but about the human condition itself. Sin is more than isolated mistakes. It is the power that twists our relationship with God and, in doing so, distorts the way we see the world.

How often do we become so attached to our opinion of someone that we stop seeing the real person? We notice faults, judge motives, or assume the worst. The problem may not be what we are looking at, but the window through which we are looking.

That is why defining sin is never straightforward. Certainly it includes actions that harm others, but it also includes the things we leave undone, the attitudes we nurture, and the prejudices we fail to question. Jesus spoke repeatedly about sins of the heart. Schleiermacher went further still, arguing that evil arises when we act upon our distorted vision and impose its consequences on others.

Paul's words capture an experience familiar to us all. We know the good we should do, yet we find ourselves choosing otherwise. We possess free will, yet we do not always exercise it wisely. Too often we trust our own judgement more than God's wisdom.

Jesus encountered this distorted vision everywhere. People rejected John the Baptist because he fasted; they rejected Jesus because he feasted with sinners. Their expectations blinded them to God's work in front of them. Looking only at appearances, they missed the truth.

The answer is not perfection but grace. Jesus simply says, ‘Follow me.’ He does not promise freedom from human weakness, but he does promise God's presence. Grace helps us see more clearly, trust more deeply, and walk more faithfully. As we learn to see through God's eyes rather than our own, the distortion begins to fade, and we discover again the path of truth, righteousness, and life.