One thing I think about a lot, church-wise, is the Christian/Catholic understanding of sin and whether it is possible to evolve beyond the "balance sheet" idea of sin and forgiveness without veering into the dark forest of (cue scary music) "moral relativism." Repent! cried John. Repent! said Jesus. "Repentance means turning around; going in a completely different direction," said the priest we had in college - repeatedly, because to save time for other intellectual pursuits he always gave the same sermon.
I always had the uncomfortable feeling that this was too much of a cycle - if you're turning completely around all the time, aren't you just constantly treading back and forth across the same worn paths? Yo-yo Christianity...like yo-yo dieting...start every week with good intentions, fall into your old habits by Wednesday or so, repent on Saturday, get forgiven on Sunday, repeat... Or as Chumbawamba so elegantly put it, "I get knocked down / but I get up again / you're never gonna keep me down!" It has a certain appeal, right? But I don't think it moves us forward.
Then, when I was walking the labyrinth next to the retreat center in Morschach last year, I had this revelation: in the labyrinth, I'm constantly turning around; constantly going in a completely different direction. But I'm not retracing my steps, I'm moving towards my goal. It's just not a straight path. The constant call to repentance doesn't have to be the voice in my head that reminds me that (news flash!) I'm still not perfect - it can be the voice in my head that reminds me to pay attention to the path, to discern the next right thing, to notice that even the times I've gone in the wrong direction have been gifts that have brought me closer to the person I'm becoming.
I've landed in the dark forest of moral relativism after all, haven't I? I'll take it, I'm happier here.
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