Confession

Amongst the many different issues that I am currently "grappling" with right now with regards to life, faith, and Christian theology and practice....is the issue of how the Church deals with sin and sinners. There seems to be somewhat of a tendency amongst many in the Church to relate to the world...with that "cheap grace" that Dietrich Bonhoeffer speaks of. Certainly there is no one who is out of the reach of God's love and grace. Certainly we need to preach this reality to the world. Certainly we need to be faithful to His command to love our neighbor and preach a gospel that is extended to all people.

But perhaps we also need to be careful in this. Perhaps we should consider the implications of over-emphasizing the realities of God's love and grace without addressing adequately His command for confession and repentance. This can be seen in the contemporary church in various ways: 1. a shift away from any need for a specified time of confession and absolution in the context of worship (if the worship service is supposed to reflect the way we worship God throughout the rest of the week...what are we saying by not including even a small portion of our time of worship to confession?). 2. a seemingly "therapeutic" model of ministry that emphasizes sentimentalism, "feelings-oriented" practices, and self-help guides to living "Your Best Life Now", as one famous prosperity gospel pastor puts it.

I feel like maybe I'm ranting a bit. But I think its more frustration...in that I've been seeing areas of my life where this has become a huge problem. I have experienced how this way of thinking has affected me in the way I view God. I think in some ways, as our culture tends more towards self-absorption and individualism...the Church has lost its footing to the grounds of moral/ethical subjectivism and personal experience. I can clearly see how self-absorbed and individualistic I tend to be...and how it has affected my relationship with, not only God, but also with the community of the Church.

Hans Boersma, one of my professors here at Regent, wrote an essay...where he touches on this topic. I figured I should quote someone who is clearly more intelligent than I am to add some validity to this post. Boersma is writing on how the Church can reconcile Christian hospitality with practices of confession and discipline...and thus, I quote:

"Why is it that we have such difficulty acknowledging the beneficial and hospitable character of confession? I suspect that much of this stems from the psychologizing of the faith that characterizes so much of contemporary North American Christianity. In his monumental study, Sin and Confession on the Eve of the Reformation, Thomas N. Tentler traces the medieval attempt to hold the twin aspects of consolation and discipline in a balance, despite the tension that existed between the two.². I am afraid that evangelicalism, in particular, has decisively opted for the former at the cost of the latter. With Christian bookstores pampering to the insatiable desire of the laity to be consoled, our Church communities are becoming more and more concerned with pragmatic self-help strategies for people trying to cope in our late modern society. The result of this over-emphasis on consolation means that it has become difficult for many churches to display any kind of real, alternative morality. The desire to uphold Christian standards of ethics is labelled as legalism or works righteousness, while immoral practices are defended as at least tolerable within the Church under the guise of Christ-like inclusivity.³° Consolation has trumped discipline; hospitality is redefined as hospitality without boundaries. The result is an inability to appreciate the value of confession and penance."
(Hans Boersma. Liturgical Hospitality: Theological Reflections on Sharing in Grace. Journal for Christian Theological Research. 2003. p. 10. [online] http://www.luthersem.edu/ctrf/JCTR/Vol08/Boersma.pdf.)

I think I will end here. I have more thoughts, but I should actually spend part of my day doing some reading for class. Please respond with any thoughts you may have. I am interested to hear what everyone thinks about this topic...if you have thoughts.

Psalm 51: 3-12
³For I know my transgressions,
And my sin is ever before me.
⁴Against You, You only, I have sinned
And done what is evil in Your sight,
So that You are justified when You speak
And blameless when You judge.
⁵Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
⁶Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,
And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.
⁷Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸Make me to hear joy and gladness,
Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.
⁹Hide Your face from my sins
And blot out all my iniquities.
¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
¹²Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
And sustain me with a willing spirit.