Do We See the Sin?

                                         Adam Pendelton

From time to time I refer to or quote from Op-Ed pieces from various publications on a variety of topics. These Opinion-Editorial pieces offer what is usually personal perspective and insight into issues rather than providing "just the facts" news.

I like the notion of Op-Art, which political cartoons present, and other forms of artistic expression. Visual images can provide a glimpse of reality in an entirely different way than words. This Op-Art by artist Adam Pendleton in the New York Times "spoke" loudly to me. What does it mean to "see the sin" of racism, which is his focus here, or economic inequality, or misogyny?

Jesus regularly invited those who gathered around him to see and hear the individual and collective sins which too often are masked by power and even religion. This invitation may have been Good News for the poor and oppressed but it made those in authority uncomfortable and angry. Would the Romans have used tear gas on Palm Sunday if it had been available? 

When we sin by commission or omission,  which is turning away from God, we can choose to re-turn, which is repentance. This is what we do, by the grace of God, to enter into right relationship. 

Pendleton included some commentary with the image which is also powerful:

Mass demonstration. Indifference. Slavery. Indifference. Jim Crow. Indifference. My people. Raised fist. Bended knee. Indifference. Just loss. Just pain. Just past. Just murder. Indifference. Loss of breath. Indifference. Loss of life. Indifference. Our pleas. Our hopes. Our demands. Our lives. Indifference. Genocide. Indifference. Mass incarceration. Indifference. Non-violence. Violence. And then indifference. Locked arms. Choked up. Indifference. Choked. Indifference. Just jogging. Just driving. Just playing. Just living. Indifference. Just language. Indifference. Just sleeping. Indifference. Just moving towards you. Indifference. Just breathing. Indifference. Our people. Those people. Indifference.