June 23: Tuesday Refocus

No one is self-made.  We have made an idol of individuality and autonomy in the modern, Western world, but this runs counter to the reality of Scripture.  Followers of Jesus are called the body of Christ. ‘For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ (1 Cor 12:12).’  We are a body made up of every tribe, tongue and nation, saved to be a people, together (Rev 7:9, 1 Pet 2:9).  No member of this body can say ‘I do not belong,’ or ‘I have no need of you (1 Cor 12:15,16,21).’

In the Genesis story we see that the sin of one man has affected all men: ‘Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned… (Rom 5:12)’  In the good and bad, we are interdependent.  This is why I find corporate confession of sin so beautiful.  In corporate confession we acknowledge that although we as individuals may not have perpetrated a specific sin, we belong to one another and ‘…if one member suffers, all suffer together… (1 Cor 12:26).’

In corporate confession of sin, we denounce both ways in which we have sinned corporately – like the reckoning the American Church is beginning to acknowledge in systemic racism and abuse – but we also denounce the idol of individuality and autonomy.

Confession: ‘We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against You.’ Jeremiah 14:20

 Assurance: ‘The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will He keep His anger forever.  He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.’ (Psalm 103:8-12)

Confessing together,

AB

June 2: Tuesday Refocus

‘Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against You in though, word and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.  We have not loved you with our whole heart and mind and strength.  We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.  In Your mercy forgive what we have been, help us amend what we are, and direct what we shall be, so that we may delight in Your will and walk in Your ways to the glory of Your holy name.  Through Christ, our Lord.  Amen.’ - Book of Common Prayer

In many contexts confession sits more comfortably within courtrooms than it does the gathered body of Christ.  But when you look at Scripture, the life of the Christ follower is to be marked by confession.  Confessions of faith (Matt 16:17, Rom 10:9), confession of sin - both individual and corporate (1 Jn 1:9, Ps 51:4, Ezra 10), confession to God, and to one another (Ps 32:5, James 5:19).

So where do we begin when it comes to confession?  The prayers of the Psalmist are ever helpful: ’Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!  And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!’ (Ps 139:23-24).  And as the Spirit reveals areas needing to be conformed more closely to the image of Christ - confess, rather than constrict.

Confessing,

AB