CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS
How would our prayers of confession be different if we tried to reflect Christ as a body in our prayer? Our faith suggests that Jesus bore the world’s sins for our sake. So, as a Body of Christ, what if we confess our ancestors’ sins and our neighbors’ sins as well as our sins?
For example, can we earnestly and sincerely confess the racism of our church’s history and the sins of our neighbors in our church and other churches? Trusting in the power of grace helps us own the sins of our community past and present and be liberated by God’s love for a better future.
What if our prayers of confession were like this:
SAMPLE OF CONFESSION
“God, we gather in your gracious presence. Probe our souls and lift up any thoughts about how each of us has felt superior to others because of race, economic status, educational level, gender, etc. (Pause for 15 seconds for each to reflect.) God, examine this church and identify our misuse of power, attitude, or status in the past or the present that has distorted the diversity that reflects your love for us. (Pause for 15 seconds.) Lord, help us to release personal and community judgments and liberate in each of us the capacity to reflect the sacrificial love you offer to flow out from this community into your hurting world. Trusting Christ as our savior enables us to be the loving community that offers hope and healing as a reflection of your image.”
The very contrast between what reflects God’s beautiful love and the narrow fears, greed, and oppression that we accept in our lives moves us toward a confession. For those involved in addressing racism in our society, it is accepted that we who are White experience advantages in our society that are structured against Black people and other People of Color. This is not because we are mean or evil but because we are humans who have advantages because of our color. Too often, when we hear that expressed, we become defensive or paralyzed by guilt.
LIBERATION THROUGH CONFESSION
Our worship provides us with an alternative direction in our journey. We participate in a faith that enables us to confess our guilt because we know through Christ and the disciples’ experience that by honestly confessing, God offers us forgiveness that enables us to grow in our faith.
If you are aware of Alcoholics Anonymous, you witness an example. The opportunity to grow into wholeness begins with the confession, “I am an alcoholic.” Imagine that same redeeming and healing power being present as we confess, “I am a racist.” Again, a pastor could structure such an invitation into prayers of confession in our worship services.
Prayers of confession are not opportunities to wallow in guilt but to open ourselves to the astonishing grace that liberates us to reflect the power of God’s love. This Divine love gives us birth and continues to give birth to the diversity of creation. Each prayer of confession is like a small version of Israel’s ritual of the scapegoat. Each year, they would load their sins on the goat and drive it into the wilderness. They were liberated to start fresh and to relate to the universe in all its beauty and freshness.
