On the Need for Confession

 

On the Need for Confession

November 14, 2020

 

The Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

Confession of sin is an ancient spiritual practice in both the Jewish and the Christian traditions. Jews and Christians have been confessing their sin to God for millennia. Confession is considered a sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church. People are expected to confess their sin before participating in the Eucharist. Confession of sin has been a practice in the Protestant traditions too from the very beginning of those traditions. Confession was a practice in ancient Judaism too. Psalm 51 is one of the great prayers of confession in any religious tradition. Consider these lines from that Psalm:

 

Have mercy on me, O God,

       according to your steadfast

              love;

       according to your abundant

              mercy

       blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my

              iniquity,

       and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions,

       and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you alone have I

              sinned,

       so that you are justified in your

              sentence

       and blameless when you pass

              judgment. Psalm 51:1-4.

 

The ancient Hebrews knew the psychospiritual value of confession. In Psalm 32 we read:

 

While I kept silence, my body

              wasted away

       through my groaning all day

              long.

For day and night your hand was

              heavy upon me;

       my strength was dried up as

              by the heat of summer.

 

Then I acknowledged my sin

              to you,

       and I did not hide my iniquity;

I said, ‘I will confess my

       transgressions to the Lord,’

       and you forgave the guilt of

              my sin. Psalm 32:3-5.

 

After he confessed his sin the psalmist of Psalm 32 could see God as “a hiding place and a deliverer from trouble.” Psalm 32:7. He was able once again to know the steadfast love of God. Psalm 32:10.

It may come as a surprise to Christians who think God forgave human sin only after the supposed atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross to learn that ancient Israel knew God as a God of forgiveness centuries before Jesus. We see that profound understanding of God in Psalm 32:5 quoted above, but that’s not the only place we see ancient Israel’s understanding of God’s forgiveness. In Psalm 130 we read:

 

If you, O Lord, should mark

              iniquities,

       Lord, who could stand?

But there is forgiveness with you,

       so that you may be revered. Psalm 130:3-4.

 

In addition to the verses we’ve already seen from it, Psalm 32 has these lines:

 

Happy are those whose

              transgression is forgiven,

       whose sin is covered.

Happy are those to whom the

              Lord imputes no iniquity,

       and in whose spirit there is no deceit. Psalm 32:1-2.

 

Christians were by no means the first people to experience forgiveness of their sin in their relationship with Jesus.

Yet it is still true that Christians have found forgiveness of their sin in Jesus Christ from the beginning of the faith. We have known the value of confession of sin just as long. The foundational prayer of the Christian faith, the Lord’s Prayer, contains an element of confession. We pray “and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” or some variation of that line. Confession has been part of the life of faith for Christians from the beginning. They probably inherited that spiritual practice from the mother church of Christianity, the ancient Jewish tradition.

So why do some progressive Christians today refuse to confess their sin? They do, you know. Years ago I served as a seminary intern in a United Church of Christ congregation that would not let their pastor include a prayer of confession in her weekly worship service. They said they had nothing to confess. They experienced confession as an utterly unnecessary self-flagellation. They wouldn’t do it. Even in the congregations I served as pastor, which did not preclude me from having confession in the worship service, I thought I had more or less to justify having confession in the service every time I came to it. That’s why I always included a “Call to Worship” in the order of the service right before the unison prayer of confession. It did call people to confession, but it also included at least a few words about why we confess at all. No, progressive Christians don’t like confession. They don’t like being told they have sinned, so many of them just don’t do confession. Or maybe they’ll sort of do it, but only when the pastor explains to them over and over again why they should.

Our tradition knows better. It knows that we all need to confess our sin. In my call to confession I often included this line from 1 John: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8. I am convinced that that New Testament verse is absolutely correct. I know it’s correct about me. I’m confident that it is correct about you too whoever you are. It’s true about us because we are human beings not gods. None of us is perfect. Sinless life is not given to us. It just isn’t. Confession is a powerful way to cope with that perhaps unfortunate reality. In confession we get honest with God. Just as importantly, in confession we get honest with ourselves.

Confession is then a vital part of the life of faith. We all have things to confess. We can’t improve aspects of our lives that we won’t admit need improving. Confession can be a rich time of self-reflection and discernment. Admitting that we have done some things wrong doesn’t mean we’ve done everything wrong. It doesn’t mean we haven’t done good things too. It means only that we know we’re not perfect and that we need God’s forgiveness. The great good news of the Judeo-Christian tradition is that God’s forgiveness is always near at hand. Indeed, I believe that God has already granted it to each and every one of us. In confession we connect our spirits with God’s spirit of forgiveness. We are freed from guilt. Then we can get to work making amends for the things we have done wrong when that is possible and working hard to do better in the future. So let’s not be reluctant about confession. It is a powerful spiritual discipline. It is pleasing to God, and it can be pleasing to us too if we’ll let it. So let’s get on with it, shall we?