Moulins and Sin

I'm never sure when I teach exactly what to say about sin. What is the balance of individual and social sin in our lives? Where do we see the effects of sin most profoundly? In broken human relationships? In systemic injustices like racism or poverty? Is sin mostly spiritual with effects most decisively visited upon us in the world to come? There are elements of truth to all of these approaches and finding something definitive to say is difficult.

Yesterday, I took a different approach focusing on the rapid flow of the Ilulissat glacier into the sea.


View Larger Map


View Larger Map


View Larger Map

And I found that the moulins (swirling masses of melt water in gigantic holes on the glaciers surface) or something very much like them, are visible from Google maps.


View Larger Map


View Larger Map

I like teaching in an age when I can fly with my class over Greenland to see the effects of global climate change. Having something very specific like moulins on which to focus a discussion about the individual and social effects of sin makes for a good discussion. The question of sin is not any easier to answer. Hopefully, that points as much to how much we all have to learn together.