Graduating Sinners

 

While grading papers, I came across a perfectly theological typo. One of my graduating seniors, reflecting on her last semester in college, mistakenly referred to herself as a “graduating sinner.”

 

"Graduating sinner" — what an apt description of living in the “now, but not yet.” Advent reminds us that, though we are redeemed, we are still being made whole. It is the season for graduating sinners! While we are new creations in Christ, we are not yet fully transformed into His image. Our old selves remain with us. In Advent, we live in this tension — waiting for Christ’s return, when all things will be made new and sin will be no more.

 

My student anticipated the conferral of a degree she had certainly earned, ‘with all its rights and privileges pertaining thereto’ — not least of which is no longer paying tuition! She looked forward to a life freed from the grind of study sessions, dry textbooks, exams and research papers. She was ready to apply the skills, knowledge and wisdom she had cultivated during her time in college. She was anxious to graduate into the ‘real life’ for which she had prepared.

 

In her “Revelations of Divine Love,” the 14th-century English mystic Dame Julian of Norwich speaks of sin as behovely, necessary or advantageous.[1] While sin is not good in itself, in the mystery of God’s love, sin serves to teach us humility and draw us nearer to Him. Sin becomes a means through which God’s mercy and grace are profoundly displayed, bringing us to a deeper understanding of His redemptive work.

 

“I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6) What if our sinful lives were the college of God’s redemptive plan? What if we graduate into the greater world of New Creation? In the meantime, we live with hope, joy and anticipation, knowing that though we are still “sinners,” we are also “saints,” set apart and beloved by a gracious God who walks with us, especially in this season of Advent, as we prepare for the fullness of His coming. Graduating sinners, rejoice!


[1] Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love. Translated by Elizabeth Spearing, Penguin, 1998. 

Dr. Matt Boyleston

St. Martin's Lay Leader

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