I have never really been that good at confession.
Always found it odd to see people in the movies go to confession in the catholic church. That was usually the time in the movie that the we learned some juicy details about the plot or began to unravel the mystery of the story. Also wondered…what did the priest do with all that information? I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that priests are the writers of some our current sitcoms. Do people really confess everything to the priest in those little closets?
A couple of weeks back I started leading kind of an impromptu Wednesday night service for our non-denominational church during this season of Lent. Last week I included a corporate confession of our sins during the service, which I stole from my new favorite book The Book of Common Prayer. This is what we said…
Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against thee
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved thee with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we earnestly repent.
For the sake of thy Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in thy will,
and walk in thy ways,
to the glory of thy Name. Amen.
Anyway, as I have dug into this Lenten process…I have realized it is so much more than giving up something like junk food or chocolate. Saying and thinking through the words of that confession woke me up. Evidently it moved a few others because last week one of them sent me an article that I need to share with you. This is an excerpt from that article written by Ruth Haley Barton (the whole article)…
“Confession is good for the soul—and everyone around us. Without the ability to face ourselves honestly and confess not only our sin and bad behaviors but also the shadow that drives them, we become dangerous to one another in the human community. We project our own darkness onto others rather than dealing with the darkness within ourselves and the weight of that is too much for any of us to bear. Lent is the season for coming out of the shadows and coming clean.”
That makes a lot sense to me. It is extremely easy to see how the sins of others does damage to the innocent in their lives and how for some reason they don’t see it. Men seem to have a real knack for this. Not that women don’t sin or have a need to confess…I just see it easier in the men. More than likely because I think like they do. I know there are a number of different beliefs on how you are to confess and who you are to confess to…not really wanting to debate that here.
Just want to say…I am beginning to see the sin in my life, and feel the need to confess. Do you?
Tags: CHRIST, confession, humility, Lent, pure
If you were around Christian music in the late 80’s and early 90’s then you know the name Rich Mullins. If you went to almost any protestant church in last 30 years then you know or have heard one or both of these two songs…”Awesome God” and “Step by Step“. Rich was an insightful songwriter and a wonderful musician who’s life was tragically cut short by a car wreck in September 1997. Rich lived what he believed and that is what has drawn me back to him these past couple of months. I ran across this video of him on YouTube. I keep going back to it and listening to what he says in it. Funny part is it is not him singing…it’s him talking. I find that I keep going back to it and playing it again. I want to invite you to listen to it and see if it touches your heart too. It was shot at a concert of his in Lufkin, Texas shortly before he passed. It is about a 9 minute video…if you don’t have 9 minutes then come back later when you do…it’s worth it.
This is the part I can’t get loose from…
“Jesus said whatever you do to the least of these my brothers you’ve done it to me. And this is what I’ve come to think.
That if I want to identify fully with Jesus Christ, who I claim to be my savior and Lord, the best way that I can do that is to identify with the poor.
This I know will go against the teachings of all the popular evangelical preachers. But they’re just wrong. They’re not bad, they’re just wrong. Christianity is not about building an absolutely secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in a beautiful little house where you have no gays or minority groups anywhere near you. Christianity is about learning to love like Jesus loved and Jesus loved the poor and Jesus loved the broken….”
Do you believe that?
If you believe it do you live like you do?
There are a few words that are very deep for me. What I would like to do here is to post a word and talk about it a little and then ask you to add your thoughts and comments about the word.
With the earthquake in Haiti a few weeks ago, and some of the things God has put on my heart the last few months…the word mercy seems to keep coming to the forefront of my mind and to the tip of my tongue as I pray.
As a boy growing up there was this game we would play as we wrestled with each other. The stronger would eventually pin down the weaker and force them to say uncle or mercy MERCY. So mercy to me was a sign of weakness. I have always defined it from the perspective of being weak or hurting. It was wrong for me as a strong American male to need mercy. Then when we had our first daughter who struggled at life for only a week…I found a whole new meaning for mercy. I found that the hurting position required intense strength and incomprehensible perseverance. That is what I see in the eyes of the Haitian people.
It also required faith in a God that could provide the mercy I so needed. Because you see, the MERCY giver acts out of a clear position of strength too. Just how much compassionate strength does it take to save the world? That is the mercy I want to understand. That is the mercy I want to flow through me!
What does mercy mean to you?…please leave your thoughts in the comments below…
Tags: mercy
In the Evangelical churches that I have attended I never remembered the Nicene Creed being a part of what I was to believe. I admit, they could have been saying it between the Sunday school report and the hell, fire and brimstone preaching…but I don’t remember it. Even after I stepped out of the denominational infighting churches and switched my church going habit to the liberating Non-denominational brand, we still didn’t hear much about this creed deal. I guess it’s because the creed is not in the Bible and we all know God ONLY speaks to us through the Bible? Really?
I have a confession, I have been quietly attending the early Eucharist at a neighborhood Episcopal Church for the past six months and it has been very refreshing and very worshipful. Entering the service quietly and in prayer is a great way to prepare your heart to be with God. It’s not passive…I get to kneel and pray out loud. They have this book called The Book of Common Prayer and it is full of these sayings and prayers. This Nicene Creed is one that we seem to say a lot…this is how it reads…
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
If you read it fast please reread it slowly thinking about what you are saying…is that rich or is it just me? Come to find out it was written a few years ago (325AD) by some pretty smart and holy men. I am humbled by those words and I am humbled by reciting them with other believers in worship. Now that you know that I am a closet Episcopalian…let me say that I firmly believe in the Nicene Creed…do you?
Tags: CHRIST, creed, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, non-believers
