Origins

This year at Epiphany, the season of Advent and the new church year began with the traditional service of Lessons and Carols at 5 p.m. on December 2. We heard 9 lessons of our salvation history from the fall of humankind, the promise of a savior, and the birth of Christ. Offered as reflections upon the lessons, Epiphany's Parish, Chorister, and Schola choirs sang anthems and hymns as well as leading the congregational caroling.

The first lesson, Genesis 3.1-15, tells the story of Adam and Eve, and the fall of humankind. Traditionally, this story from Genesis has been interpreted as the origin of original sin, a doctrine of the church that teaches the sinfulness of all people from birth and our need of redemption(see also Psalm 51.5). However, this interpretation of Genesis is unique to Christians among the three Abrahamic faiths that also include this story in their holy scriptures. The doctrine was first conceived by St. Augustine and his belief that unbaptized infants who die are hellbound, because, for Augustine, humanity without God's grace has no other option than sin.

As with any doctrine of the church, original sin has many problems. It has helped me to remember the passage from Genesis, upon which the doctrine of original sin is based, is a creation myth and not a blow by blow account of what the first man and woman were up to. A myth is not a terrible thing. Myths illustrate much deeper truths than a simple news story on Eve's disobedience ever could. This myth tells us about desire, innocence, knowledge, temptation, love, pain, and despair and the place of God in all of those very human experiences. The richness of its multiple layers of meaning may be explored with our God-given imaginations preventing the limitation of its interpretation only to the story of our original sin. This limitation, in fact, would seem a sin itself.