Unlearning Is So Important
Rev. Erik Swanson
October 5, 2025
You can watch the entire sermon here.
When I look back at the Trump administration, it may sound strange to say, but I’ve found reasons to be grateful. This period pulled back the curtain and revealed things about our country — and about myself — that I hadn’t fully seen before. I used to assume that our government was truly about helping the nation grow and live out the ideals etched on the Statue of Liberty: liberty and justice for all. I believed we had moved past our colonial mindset and that power was used for the common good. But I’ve had to wake up to a harsher truth.
A Theological Awakening
The same awakening has happened with my theology. I once held onto the comforting image of God as a kind of wish-granter, a being who would make things right if I just prayed hard enough. But experiences like the suffering in Gaza have forced me to reconsider what it means to believe in an all-powerful, all-loving God. I even assumed the church was the faithful embodiment of God’s will on earth — but that too has been challenged.
It's About Unlearning
Through all of this, I’ve discovered that real transformation often isn’t about *learning* something new — it’s about *unlearning*. Richard Rohr once said, “Transformation is more about unlearning than learning,” and that has become profoundly true for me. We carry so many ideas — taught by society, by the church, by our families — that keep us trapped. We cling to definitions of truth, goodness, and even ourselves that prevent deeper freedom. To grow spiritually, we must unlearn those lessons that no longer serve us.
What Do We Need To Unlearn?
So I ask myself — and others — what must we unlearn to be more free, more whole, more holy? We’ve all been taught things that seem right on the surface but can’t withstand a deeper dive. We rarely get encouraged to move beyond the simple versions of faith or morality we learned as children. That’s how racism, sexism, and prejudice of all kinds continue to live on — they are lessons never unlearned. The same holds true in our spiritual lives: we must unlearn our shallow understandings of scripture so we can hear God’s deeper truths.
The Sinful Woman – She Unlearned
The woman in today’s gospel story embodies this process of unlearning. The religious authorities saw her only through the lens of sin and impurity. But Jesus saw through that — to her love, her service, her devotion. She had unlearned the definitions that once confined her, freeing herself to express love without fear. The Pharisees, bound by their certainty, could not see what she saw. They would have had to unlearn their rigid beliefs to recognize her holiness.
Her story challenges how we understand forgiveness. I don’t think Jesus *gave* her forgiveness that day — I think he *recognized* it. He saw that she had already found freedom within herself. What if forgiveness is not something we receive from outside, but something that happens as we unlearn the shame and fear that keep us bound?
Unlearning Is Essential For Unity
As we celebrate World Communion Sunday, I’m reminded that unlearning is essential for unity. We’ve been taught to see others as different — by race, class, gender, politics, or faith. Those lessons keep us apart, but holiness is about connection. Holiness sees the shared humanity beneath all divisions.
Let God Shake Out The Old Certainties
The poet Hafiz once said, “The Beloved sometimes wants to do us a great favor: hold us upside down and shake all the nonsense out.” Maybe that’s exactly what we need — to let God shake loose the old certainties, the prejudices, the fears we’ve carried too long. Only then can we be transformed into people of love, people who see as Jesus sees. What, then, must I unlearn to live in that kind of love? That is the question that stays with me.