We begin with confession

In 2015, the current occupant of the White House was asked whether he had ever asked God for forgiveness. He answered: “I am not sure I have. I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don’t think so, I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t.”

Truth be told, I sometimes feel the same way. When it comes time for confession in the liturgy, in moments of honesty, I can say to myself that I’m a pretty good guy and I don’t have anything right now, thank you very much. It has even occurred to me that God is lucky to have me on the team. How’s that for confession?

These thoughts were triggered by the psalm we heard in church yesterday (reprinted above). It talks a lot about the need for forgiveness, specifically, the need for God to forgive us. For instance, note verses 5 and 6: “I acknowledged my sin to you, and did not conceal my guilt. I said," I will confess my transgressions to the Lord." Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin.”

That need for forgiveness is addressed in confession as we take stock, as we take our own spiritual inventory, a spiritual practice calling to each one of us. I’ve been mulling over some wisdom from Anne Lamott. She said that the earth is forgiveness school. That certainly includes our capacity to forgive those who might have done us wrong. We all know those folks. But before we get there, it’s about recognizing our own need for forgiveness, and trusting that God offers forgiveness to us with exorbitant generosity.

I’m struck with the fact that in the journey of faith, confession is often the starting point. The daily office (morning and evening prayer) begin with a confession that we have not loved God with our whole heart, mind and strength. We have not loved neighbor as ourselves. There is never a day in my life when that is not my truth. When we gather for eucharist, we do not exchange the peace or move to reception of bread and wine until we have made confession. In the church calendar, we don’t get to Easter without going through the penitential season of Lent with its persistent call to repentance, an admission that we’re going in the wrong direction, that we have missed the mark. It’s the wisdom of the Twelve Steps which begin with confession that our lives have become unmanageable and goes on to call for an admission of ways we had gone wrong.

So what is so important about confession? First of all, it’s getting to the truth about ourselves. If you heard the Parable of the Prodigal Son in church yesterday, it's that moment with the inheritance-wasting, pig-feeding screw up of a son "came to himself and said...I will get up and go to my father and say to him, "I have sinned against heaven and before you." (Luke 15:17,18)

While I have already confessed to readers that I’m fully able to gloss over the truth of my own transgressions, I have been helped in Lent by reflecting each morning on the Litany of Penitence, from the Ash Wednesday liturgy (p. 267 in the Book of Common Prayer). It’s an expanded confession and it’s got something for everyone. Have a look and see if there isn’t some way that it shines a mirror on who you are and how you are in the world. The phrase that has hit me this season is “I have not been true to the mind of Christ.” That’s undoubtedly true for me, as it invites me to explore the mystery of that holy mind.

Second, confession allows us to experience the forgiveness of the Holy One. A smart friend of mine converted to Christianity after years as committed atheism. He came to me one day and said: “I think I get the gospel: I’m not okay. You’re not okay. And that’s okay.” He had grasped the freedom that comes in believing that God’s intention is to offer us forgiveness. “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” I John 1:8,9) 

Third, it motivates us to offer forgiveness to those around us. If we’re honest about the ways we have fallen short, and if we have some sense that God knows us and still loves us, the door is open for us to extend forgiveness to those who may have done us wrong. We all have those people in our lives. We have all been those people in the lives of others. But that does not need to be the final word. There is indeed a way to move forward, as Desmond Tutu notably noted: There is no future without forgiveness.

So as we have a few more days in Lent, think about why confession matters in your life, and how it can be a threshold to a life marked by renewal.

-Jay Sidebotham

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