I don’t know about you, but when I enter the grocery store this week, I’m immediately overwhelmed at the sheer volume of jellybeans, marshmallow chicks, and plastic neon “grass.” How did Holy Week — a time when Jesus rode a donkey, flipped the tables, and washed feet — become a time when we’re confronted with the sin of the quintessential false idol of the 1990s: THE BUNNY? (Any VeggieTales fans out there?)

It’s easy to laugh at the commercialization, but it also got me thinking about sin more broadly. Sin is such a heavy topic. Looking back to my time as a student in the AMBS Journey Program, I (Alisha) first encountered the German word Heilsgeschichte, or “salvation history.” This is the story of God’s saving work in the world. In one class, we traced this story through Scripture, noting what some describe as four “falls” of humanity. 

I’m no biblical scholar (more practitioner than theologian), but as I watch the sins of  pride, jealousy, violence, self-exaltation and idolatry dominate headlines, I wonder: Are we heading toward a fifth fall?

Here are five falls that can point us toward Christ, even when history seems to repeat itself.

1. Fall one | The garden: pride

Genesis 1–3 tells the story of Adam and Eve and the sin of pride. They sought knowledge of good and evil, separating themselves from God and each other.

How often do we assume we know better than God, or one another, and let pride fracture our relationships?

Let us pray: Creative God, grant us the humility to recognize when our pride leads us astray. Give us the grace to pursue healing with you and one another.

2. Fall two | Cain + Abel: jealousy

Genesis 4 shows jealousy at its most destructive. Cain resented Abel, and the envy in his heart led to violence.

How often do we see neighbors, friends, even family, as rivals instead of companions? How can we turn from jealousy and cultivate a right relationship with God and others?

Let us pray: Forgiving God, release the jealousy that distracts our hearts. Teach us to treasure the gifts you have already given and to celebrate the blessings of those around us.

3. Fall three | The flood: violence

Genesis 6–8 records a world filled with violence. God’s sorrowful judgment flooded the earth and spared only those who followed righteousness.

Violence broke relationships and communities back then, just as it does today. How can we embody peace instead of destruction?

Let us pray: Compassionate God, wash away our violent impulses. Help us to care for creation and each other, and to flood the world with love.

4. Fall four | The tower of Babel: self-exaltation

In Genesis 11, humanity’s pride led them to build a tower to glorify themselves rather than God. Today, self-exaltation shows up in countless ways: in obsession with status, image, follower-count, wealth and gilded ballrooms . . . in idolizing systems rather than God. 

How do we learn to rest in God’s design, to celebrate our own and others’ humanity, instead of seeking glory elsewhere?

Let us pray: Accepting God, thank you for making us as we are. Forgive us for trying to redesign your good work. Teach us to love and celebrate ourselves and others as your creation.

5. Fall five | The false idol of Christian nationalism

I fear that Christian nationalism is a modern expression of humanity’s recurring fall. Around the globe, faith is co-opted to justify violence, oppression and prideful ambition. Leaders claim God’s favor to support wars, pass restrictive laws or implement exclusionary policies. 

Under Vladimir Putin, the state of Russia partners closely with the Russian Orthodox church, promoting “traditional family values” to frame its national identity – including rhetoric around the invasion of Ukraine as “holy and just.” In Hungary, Victor Orbán describes his country as a “defender of Christian Europe,” using that identity to justify violent immigration policies. In my own country, the United States’ leaders proclaim it to be a Christian nation and celebrate God’s favor through violence, oppression and destruction.

Sadly, it’s all too easy to conflate faith and power, wrapping God’s name around human agendas. The false idol of Christian nationalism demands a new prophetic vision, one that must give birth to a new expression of faith, where the church and religion can no longer be abused and mistreated in the name of violence, oppression and prideful ambition. 

Let us pray: Merciful God, please embolden the Spirit to lead us into humility, justice, and love. May we recognize how easy it is for any of us to confuse faith with power. May we step away from this ledge, lest we fall.

Thankfully, this is not where the story ends. If Scripture teaches us anything, it is that God does not abandon us when we miss the mark. From the very beginning, God has been making a way back: restoring what was broken, healing what was divided, and calling out to us, back into right relationship. Even now, as we stand in a moment that feels like another fall, we trust that God’s grace is still at work. Not quietly ignoring our sin, but actively redeeming it. Not excusing our violence, but transforming it. Not abandoning us to our pride, but inviting us into humility and love. Separation is not the final word: grace is.