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.
11 comments:
You bring up an interesting question.
We tend to hide behind our shallow defenses because either we fear what others will think of us if they really knew or the more we know about others, the more we have to care about and for them.
There's also the remorse that follows revealing too much private information that makes us want to shun our confidantes.
Confession is a balance.
If we are led to public confession,
then God must have the good of others in mind.
I knew if I waited around long enough, you'd say something that made some sense.
So while I continue to wait for that day to arrive, let me add my two pagan cents to the current discussion by quoting a book you may have read:
"Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge."
The man who wrote them words right there was supposed to be one after God's heart...or so God Himself said. So if there is an authoritative figure in respect to what God seeks in His followers, I'll put my money on him.
In the rest of the related passage (which I'm sure your Bible computer mega-brain already knows), you'll see that the sinning man in question doesn't trifle with confessing to his contemporaries, who would offer incomplete grace and incorrect advice.
No, he sticks with talking to The One who can actually DO SOMETHING about it. Wisdom drove him to ask for what he needed from the proper and true Source. And you'll notice that the point at which other people on Earth are brought into the equation is ONLY AFTER he's been granted the grace he craves, and only then for the sake of relating his method, i.e. confessing to God and to God alone.
My Mom always tells me: "Ask the one who can help you." If you're at the movie theatre and you want your money back because the movie sucked, you don't ask some pimpley-faced 17 year old about it. You go find the theatre manager. "Ask the one who can help you."
If you've got a confession to make, don't bother with frail and fragile people whose perspective is narrow, whose understanding is limited and whose opinion doesn't make an eternal difference in the first place.
"Ask the one who can help you."
Or in His case..."The One."
So I continue to keep my confessions between myself and The One who can help me since that's what He wants. That simple model also has the added bonus of eliminating the mulitplied possibility of human frailty.
Makes sense to a fool like me.
But what the hell do I know, really? I'm just the guy that said "Warriors in Six" before the series even began.
Patrick, of all your posts, that one is the saddest.
A different perspective is "sad" is it? Surely you're a better Protestant than that.
Like I said...
"Makes sense to a fool LIKE ME." (Or "a wayfaring man" if you want to get King James about it.)
Admittedly, I don't have the "advantage" of several years of seminary and academia in respect to how I should interact with God. You've got me there.
All I do is read the instruction manual, consider the human condition and think about practical application. The pontification about theory I'll leave to you and your like who are INFINITELY more qualified to do so.
Seems to me it's pretty simple and straightforward, though. God's opinion is the one that will matter eternally, is it not? And even though God loves us, we humans are limited in our "understanding" and frail in our "strength." So why engage such types with things of everlasting consesquence?
Thus, I'll continue taking my confessions straight to The Top through my intercessor, whom you might recognize as "the author and perfector of my faith." None of you mere mortals can do what He does.
Or do you still just have your boxers in a twist about me being right about the Mavericks being in a bad matchup against the Warriors?
I didn't say why it was sad. And I'm over the Mavericks loss, so my boxers are fine. Thanks for asking though!
I disagree with Patrick unless he's kidding. If that's the case then I couldnt agree more. That main fact is that I will beat you in football.
"confess your sins one to another and pray for each other...."
That's been very important and necessary for me over the last few years. It has all come in small group settings though. The act of going down front, to me, was arcaic (is that how you spell it) until yesterday. I'm not even going to try and explain what happened. Let's just say the pastor said, screw the sermon, I had a terrible week, let's see if anyone else did. 45 minutes later, 25 people were standing up front talking about their struggles. Mothers prayed for struggling mothers. Guys prayed for dudes. Moms prayed for kids and pastors prayed for other stuff. It was a small group, retreat type of atmosphere right there in the middle of service.
Confessing to God is obviously necessary, but one to another is very powerful and necessary for me. I think the Catholics have it right to some degree and I agree that we miss the point (on many things!)a lot of times at "church." Unfortunately churches in the past were known more for judgment than grace. That has hindered things so far. Getting past that is hard, but once you do, grace abounds. As we stand and sing.
K
Well, K...
Disagree all you want. Seems like a popular m.o. here. And the more irrational and reactionary, the better.
It's just that I don't need the manufactured gushiness of a "retreat atmosphere" to have a meaningful spiritual experience. That kind of thing is actually a huge buzzkill because of its phoniness, truth be told. In fact, the most vivid visions and the greatest insights my feeble mind has had have been from the "still small voice" that came when I was all by myself as a result of study, meditation or both. No holding hands and singing Kum Ba Yah is necessary for the nourishment of my soul. Call me crazy.
Further, I've heard it said somewhere that "when you pray, go into your inner room and shut the door and pray to The Father in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you." So wouldn't it follow that confession of sin would be done effectively in a similar vein, especially in light of David's psalm that I talked about before?
Ah, but what the hell do I know? You guys will probably wind up with better seats in Heaven because of all your book study about this stuff.
Patrick, I keep your comments up because they are a different perspective. I value the difference even though I think it is wrong. Your insults towards those who think differently, however, imply the same close-mindedness that you accuse us of having. Your insults also imply immaturity on your part, which denigrates your own position. No one has ever said anything about "seats in heaven." My friend K is not an academician, and neither he nor I are attempting to "condescend" to you or anyone else.
Further, your proof-texting is not even good proof-texting. I have a hard time believing that Psalm 51 implies that David himself thought that he had not sinned against Bathsheba, or even more so, Uriah! That he places his sin in a broader context does not lessen that. And, your insults still did not answer K's question about James 5:16, or do you, like Luther, choose to ignore that book? Also, your text from Matthew 6 is taken completely out of context. Reading the whole context I find it hard to make the parallel from this teaching on prayer to confession a hard and fast rule. I guess we should also give up praying in the presence of other people as well, according to your argument. Of course, you probably do think that...
So, unlike you, I do not think that irrational and reactionary equals better; your remarks prove that. To label a true confessional event in a church with which you have absolutely no contact or experience as phony is absurd. What makes your comments so sad is not that they are different than mine, but rather the complete and arrogant self-dependence it portrays. I would guess you might deny this, but your words suggest otherwise. We are advocating a true spirit of confession that is neither manufactured nor forced. Living out your faith alone, as you seem intent on doing, is sad, I think. I do not believe that God intended for any of his children to live without community. He desires for us to have community both with Him and with others. If I thought as you do, I imagine I would find heaven a rather lonely place. As it is, when WE get to heaven, I hope your seat is right next to mine.
It's like Federer and Nadal. You serve, I volley. You return, I lob. (That's tennis talk, by the way...yet another sport that's better than the NBA product.)
As you leave my comments up because they offer a different perspective (unless of course they contain even a SLIVER of truth about how bad that Mavericks post-season meltdown REALLY was, in which case I can anticipate their prompt deletion), so I read your stuff for a similar reason. It's good to read and remind myself what the Christians are thinking, and your blog serves as a fine example in that respect.
Believe it or not, I don't mean to come across as insulting or harsh when it comes to my feelings about what you have to say. Then again, after three decades plus of joyless, useless religion being foisted upon me by narrow-minded, self-serving bigots, maybe my honest thoughts about that establishment are precisely what need to be heard, hmmm?
And I thought quoting scripture out of context and to serve my own purposes was sound doctrine. You'd sure think so if you grew up in "The Lord's Church", wouldn't you? In retrospect, what other conclusion could you draw? Do they teach that at seminary or something?
And I don't need firsthand knowledge of the church-wide confessional event that K described to understand what was going on. I assure you, though, that if I HAD been there, I'd have just quietly headed for the door when it all started to happen. Such "demonstrations of faith" do nothing but make me want to stay home on Sunday mornings, as I get infinitely more spiritual edification from reading God's own word and saying a simple prayer in privacy than I would from being part of such a scene as that, the authenticity and sincerity of which my mind would rightfully question.
Why so skeptical? Believe me, I've had JUST that type of experience repeatedly, so I know PRECISELY the kind of thing K is describing. And leopards don't change their spots, you know...oops, there I go using scripture out of context again! Force of habit. Sorry.
And if you think I'm self-dependent in terms of my faith, you've got the worst case of selective comprehension since the referees that called all those fouls for Dwyane Wade in the Finals two years ago. (But then they probably had money riding on the results.) I try my best to center my faith on knowing God more, and the best expression and the deepest understanding of that comes when He and I are focused on each other exclusively...I as student, He as Loving Master. Everything and everyone else becomes inconsequential in those moments.
So no offense to you or any other human beings here on the planet with me, but when I've got something of that sort on my mind, I'm not going to waste my time or energy allowing you to distort me with your narrow-minded, short-sighted points of view, which are often laden with mind-numbing guilt and baseless piety and a pitifully lacking base of knowledge.
Instead, I'll be bypassing all that and going straight to The Top. To The One whose opinion is eternal, and whose understanding of the soul He knit together in my mother's womb is total. (More out of context scripture there.)
And if God loves me as I believe He does, my seats in Heaven will be right on the offensive blue line, up in the corner, at the end of the aisle, complete with a pom pom for me...
Hey! That sounds familiar!
Pat-I wont even begin to respond the way I want to because it will take too long to give you background on who I am and how I've arrived at my current state of faith. I'm betting I'm the furthest version from what you think I am based on my comment. FYI- Your tone is definitely condescending (since you said you're not trying to be). You and I can agree that a lot of church stuff is phony. No doubt. Just turn on the TV. Get on you tube or watch "Jesus Camp." Go to 50% of churches in any given city and you'll find bigotry. We're all sinners and we've screwed this up. There's plenty of crap out there. I've experienced my time away from organized religion and ultimately determined that I needed to be there. I'm not advocating emotion based religion or worship. That's not what our service was about. And I can promise, you've never been to a church like this that is taking on major issues in a divided city; trying to do what Jesus would have done if we was alive. I think we were made to live and worhip in community whether it was with 12 (apostles...that was a good model) people or 5 or 250. I think some of my best times have been by myself too. The last thing I want to do is try and convince someone that my way is the best. I've been on the other side and despised folks for trying to do that to me. I think the point of this is that Billy Steve and I are trying to do something about it by getting involved with other Christians with the same world goggles and pushing each other to be like Jesus in and out of "church." You know "iron sharpens iron" (completely in context). You choose solitary and that's fine. Lots of people have; Judas, Satan, Uzzah....
Great thoughts on confession. It seems to me, that some confusion and disagreement can occur when we view the only value of confession as eternal reward (seats in heaven). From that perspective, it seems natural that God is the only one we must make our confession to. However, we lose so much of the value of faith and the message of Christ when we focus solely on the perceived eternal benefits/consequences of our involvement with God. Much of the disconnect for most christians and christian institutions has often been that we have completely neglected to understand the impact God wants to have on our lives and our world in the immediate. It is from this perspective that I find a lot of encouragement in your post billy-steve. Confession of sins to those sharing with us in the pursuit of "thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven" can be a source of relief, joy, penitent lament, increased strength of will to resist temptation, tangible experience of the grace God extends to us, etc, etc,. Participating in this sacrament both in the presence of God and others is a wonderful, powerful, and I believe necessary, instrument of God in the sanctifying work of the Spirit on those who follow Christ. Thanks for the reminder.
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