In Thought, Word, and Deed

For decades I attended church services and didn't really 'get' the confession of sin.

In our service, near the middle, the  celebrant will say "Let us now confess our sins against God and our neighbor".    It never resonated with me; I could never focus on any personal "things done and left undone".

I ever imagined it was supposed tounload some really juicy, torturous, latent tidbit except I couldn't because nothing ever came to mind big enough to unload. 

But I recently realised the confession doesn't have to be murder or some awful hidden secret -- in prayer I should just unburden yourself from the little things I beat myself up over.  They are tiny, tiny things but they really weigh me down when I think about them.  It can be as tiny as not handing back test grades in a timely manner or not staying in touch with the people important to me or not fully participating fully in organizations I belong to.  Forgiveness for those things suddenly makes the church service more meaningful.

Comments

[Denise]

Confession in the Catholic church is the one thing I refuse to succumb to. I confess directly. My parish priest knows I've spent 30 years as a Lutheran so he says he understands and that it's a matter of hearing it personally for some folks.

[Lyn Sieffert]

The words,"things done & undone" have always relieved me from striving toward an unrealistic perfectionism --because after all -- only God is perfect. And He loves us in spite of our inperfection. Our rector says out loud, just before communion, "Cleanse me of my secret sins..." How is that as an example of humility for the rest of us to follow?

[Peter]

I love that prayer. I say that at least once a week: "We have done those things which we ought not to have done, and we have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and there is no help in us."