Confessions

Sacrament - a Christian rite that mediates divine grace.

What little I know about confessing, I learned from Usher. Just kidding. But lately, I have been thinking a lot about confession, especially confession as sacrament. That's a big leap from the kind of confession that typically takes place in our churches - that is, not at all. Maybe confession as a sacrament seems Catholic. Well, it is. But what's so bad about that? I'm willing to say that confession is a necessary spiritual discipline, and one that we do not practice in our heritage. With the obsession for dogmatic absolutism giving way to a highly relational theology (for better and worse), why are we leaving out the practice of confession? If ever there was a place for "high church" practices to enter our fellowship, I would think it would be in the realm of confession. That being said, let's not all go tell the preacher. Better yet, let's not all wait and go down to the front - or worse yet, the back - of the auditorium on Sunday morning to confess. Why wait? What about your spiritual vitality is worth waiting even one more day?

I don't like the idea of hiding our confessions, whether in a booth or in the back of the auditorium. It speaks to the idea that we are afraid to be real with one another. It may even be indicative of the lack of faith we have in the grace of God, or more likely, in the ability of God's family to properly handle the grace-full situations that follow confession. Do I really trust you to know what is really going on with me? Typically, the answer is a resounding no. We foster a culture of distrust in our churches by our practice of confession and it leads to spiritual stunting. We fail to grow when we cannot confess.

That being said, are some things between the believer and God? Can you confess to Him alone and still experience forgiveness, healing, and growth? I grudgingly concede that the answer to both questions can be affirmative. But I still believe that God created the church to be a place where sins are confessed and healing is not only received, but also given. Confession is the only path to healing, forgiveness, grace. We're very good with talking about the need for repentance, but what is that without confession. True confession leads to true repentance. And true repentance is not about a matter of doctrine or judgment; true repentance is a matter of healing and grace.

Thus, in order for us to become a confessing people, we must first learn humbly to receive God's grace. Then, confession truly becomes a sacramental practice. Like our most common sacraments - baptism and the Lord's Supper - it is both intimately personal and amazingly communal. And, it is a practice that we desperately need in our churches today.

Memphis Sport Fantasy Challenge

I had a draft today for the Memphis Sport Fantasy Football Challenge, in which 50+ people compete for the crown. How can this be, you ask? Well, without too much detail, it's divided into smaller divisions (8 teams each), with the top one or two teams advancing to the playoffs. I got the second pick in my division, and I am super pumped about my team. It is better than Kevin Conway's All-Infirmary All-Stars.

Steven Jackson
Steve Smith
Marvin Harrison
Maurice Jones-Drew
T.J. Housh
Cedric Benson
Andre Johnson
Matt Hasselbeck
Jay Cutler
Lav Coles
Jason Whitten
Green Bay Defense
Ladell Betts
Jeff Wilkins
Brandon Jackson

I think this team will go far - make the playoffs for sure. Then again, I could be very, very wrong.

The Greatest Half Day Ever

When Jesse grew up, it was a somewhat common practice to celebrate her half-birthday, since the actual birthday falls in the Summer. We all know how bad we felt for the Summer birthday kids when we were younger. No one's around to celebrate! No cupcakes at school! I never had this problem (February). So when I saw my half-birthday listed on the family calender, I figured it was just a shout out to an old and cherished Maddox tradition. I was wrong.

Jesse came home early yesterday and surprised me with a wonderful half-birthday, half-day celebration. She took me to Davis-Kidd to peruse the fantasy football mags and pick out my favorite (K & A be warned). Then we went and watched The Bourne Supremacy on DLP (shout out to Pops). Then, we went home and she showed me the best part, a month subscription to MLB TV. Through the end of the season, I get to watch any Sox game I want on the new iMac, which by the way, is more than capable of handling a full screen Sox game, or the uber-cool MLB Mosaic, which shows up to six games at once in a (go figure) mosaic pattern. So last night, along with a wonderful shrimp dinner, we got to watch a great Sox game in which they came back in the bottom of the ninth to win the game.

My wife is awesome.


Here's the new computer:

The Mac Daddy

Well, I finished a somewhat torturous week of Restoration history class. I now know the years in which the four founding leaders of the Stone-Campbell Movement were born and died. My life is complete. I also know the founding year for most of our journals. The wait is over. I took my final Saturday morning, promptly forgot everything, and was blessed to hang out with Sophie Ray and some other guy. Now, I have a week off and I plan on using it wisely. I started Harry Potter on Saturday night, and finished it Monday morning. Wow. Beyond that, I planned on catching up on some of the things around the house I had neglected during my short course. That is, until the iMac Daddy arrived yesterday. This thing is pretty awesome. After I clean off the desk some, I'll post a picture.

Today

is the first day of my last fall semester of graduate school. How exciting!

Call me crazy

but I'm thinking maybe the X-Games have gone too far...

I have RMS

Restless Mind Syndrome. This morning, around 4:30, I woke up thinking about random things and couldn't fall back asleep. Then, a bug starting flying around and attacking the walls at 4:50. So I gently nudged Jesse so she wouldn't be scared by the impending shoe smash, got out of bed, chased it around with said shoe, smashed the flying beetle with said shoe, and got back in bed. Immediately, our room stank. I don't know what kind of beetle it was, but it stank bad. In a matter of seconds, the whole room smelled like damp mud. So I got back up, scraped up the stupid beetle, and flushed it. Isn't that weird? I think that is weird. Weird that I was awake, weird that I killed a beetle and left it there, weird that the beetle stunk. I feel like everyone should know about this. I do weird things at night and in the early morning.