From today’s local paper The Sharon Herald, my contribution to the From The Pulpit column:

Sin is an ugly thing. It’s against nature. It’s vulgar, shameful; something we’re not supposed to do. Something forbidden. But we’re lured and tempted, coaxed into doing whatever it may be, wherever one’s weakness might lead them. And who are these people that fall into sin? All of us. St. Paul says that we’ve all sinned and come short of the glory of God. St. John, on the other hand, says that if anyone claims to be without sin they deceive themselves and the truth is not in them.

From an Eastern Orthodox Christian perspective sin is not so much something we have done as much as it is a disease we battle. In other words, while we can safely say that we are all sinners there is a difference between those who do…