S is for Spirituality

That hit a nerve. "That sounded like my alcoholism," Vin said. "Shame and guilt are what my alcoholism was all about: drinking to get away from the feelings of shame and guilt." So he talked to the man about his alcoholism. Then he talked about his spirituality.

"It's how we look at ourselves. Shame and guilt? Yeah, I know that; that's where I've been. Now I'll tell you how I got free. Jesus Christ took my shame and guilt. He comes to me with grace and with love. In his love, he took my shame and guilt to his cross. Now he comes to me with grace and love every day."

Vin told me, "Now I know exactly why I'm on the sex offender unit. The program they are in emphasizes shame and guilt. I agree with the program, to let them see the damage done, the victims' lives. But once they see, then it is time for a new message." (Vin may not have known how closely he was paraphrasing Luther's word on the timing of the Gospel, which must be preached to the penitent, but not to the impenitent lest they become worse.)

I marvel at how Vin's experience in alcoholism, which is certainly not a blessing, has been used by Vin and by God to bless these sex offenders. But that is God's way: creating a world out of nothing, making of me a holy child where there was only a hell-bound sinner, or turning curses like alcoholism or crucifixion into blessings.

For skeptics like me, Vin's story is a blessed instance, a slice of genuine life where one of Jesus' foot-soldiers is "dedicating himself to the care and redemption of all that You have made," even in a most unlikely place. A last word will let the emphasis lie on the "all" in that prayer. Vin says that in Wisconsin Jeffrey Dahmer was so notorious a sex offender that prisoners will ask Vin how he would have dealt with Dahmer. "I'd say to him, sin is separation from God. I am separated just like you. I need Christ's forgiveness. So do you.'"

tbcm