Rethinking Our Mission

I used to be a little bit (not a lot, but a little bit) judgmental of people who presented faith in a way that was too friendly. I mean, I’ve always wanted faith to seem approachable. I’ve never wanted it to seem like it was hidden behind a gate that only “the good” could get past. But I’ve always felt like accountability was important. I never cared for approaches that seemed to overlook the importance of things like accountability, confession, and the like.

These things are still important to me today- but I’m thinking about them a bit differently. I used to think that people wouldn’t hold themselves accountable…that we needed someone from the outside to remind us of the things that we needed to confess or take accountability over. This is what is changing for me. Over time I realize that most people are *very aware* of their struggles, shortcomings, character flaws, or misgivings.

Because of this, I no longer think we should be demanding people spend more time thinking about their flaws. I think we should be encouraging people that it’s okay to be flawed and that, if we support each other, we can move past them.

Again, it’s not that I don’t think accountability and confession are important- I’m just rethinking what they look like. I think we need both. But I think we first need an environment where we feel free to look inside and share without fear of being excluded.

To be continued…

Confession just feels "wrong"

In my family, admitting anything was a sign of weakness. I am predisposed to resist admitting stuff. I have had seasons when I was particularly irritated about having to share my shame with God.

“Doesn’t he already know?” I whine.

“Isn’t God ALL KNOWING?” I asked with a large dose of sarcasm.

When I kept quiet, my bones wore out;
I was groaning all day long
- every day, every night! -
because your hand was heavy upon me.
My energy was sapped as if in a summer drought.
So I admitted my sin to you; I didn’t conceal my guilt.
“I’ll confess my sins to the Lord,” is what I said.
~ Psalm 32:3-5, CEB


Does God know everything? If so, why do I have to experience the humiliation of telling God what he already knows? A careful reading of scripture reveals times when it does seem like God does not actually know every single thing. Sometimes we humans seem to catch God off guard.

Maybe God DOES know everything. When that voice in my head whines, “Doesn’t God know everything?” I have learned to respond with “Who knows? Stop distracting yourself from doing your part to heal.”


Whether God has the capacity to know everything about us before we even know it ourselves or not - admitting, confessing, sharing our most embarrassing truths - is good for the soul.

Confession

16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.  

James 5:16, NRSV

Step 5: Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs

Confession is a term that points us in the direction of a number of spiritual practices.  We can’t confess until we’ve done rigorously honest self-reflection, for instance.  We can’t confess without surrounding ourselves with community who are willing to hold us accountable to our certain way of seeing, who we, for our part, trust to do so.  

The 12 steps provide us the mechanics required to carry this process out (in step 5 and its surrounding steps).  We take a moral inventory, we share it with God and a trusted accountability partner.  

The Bible casts a more obviously spiritual vision for confession (though, of course, the 12 steps are profoundly spiritual), a vision which includes healing, forgiveness, acceptance, redemption, restoration, and community up-building.  That's a powerful list.  We can't over-emphasize the importance of confession.