Presenting Engagement: Confess What?!
The Psalm reading in the Presbyterian lectionary for today would seem rather harsh to many people. It’s the kind of condemnation that a lot of people feel is an effort of the church to make good people feel guilty about themselves. It’s the kind of condemnation that drives some people away from church entirely and drives some churches to dump that depressing prayer of confession entirely.
The Psalm reading in the Presbyterian lectionary for today would seem rather harsh to many people. It’s the kind of condemnation that a lot of people feel is an effort of the church to make good people feel guilty about themselves. It’s the kind of condemnation that drives some people away from church entirely and drives some churches to dump that depressing prayer of confession entirely.
I’m talking about Psalm 14.
It begins like this:
Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is no one who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God. They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one.[i]
Well what are we to make of that? Surely there is someone who is good. Surely there is at least one person who has done no abominable deeds. Surely somebody out there truly seeks after God.
I know that I do.
And I know that you do too.
We’re good people, you and I. Aren’t we?
After all we’re here in church today and that makes us good people, doesn’t it? At least that must mean that we are not the ones saying: “There is no God.” I didn’t do any deliberate harm to anyone on the way here and that too makes me good, doesn’t it? I haven’t coveted anybody’s anything or taken the Lord’s name in vain or murdered or stolen or littered or even forgotten to make up my bed today and all that makes me a good person. Doesn’t it?
Well that’s what many people think to themselves about themselves. So when they come to the moment for silent prayer in the prayer of confession, they shift in their pews uncomfortably. They shuffle their feet or pick at their fingernails because they can’t think of anything to pray.
A Canon on the clergy staff at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London remarked that in some baptism services in the Anglican tradition where people are asked if they “repent of sins that separate us from God and neighbour,” you could actually perceive the mental calisthenics that people were doing just to think of something they’d done wrong so that they could feel appropriately penitent at that particular moment when such a feeling was required of them by church ceremony.[ii]
But conjuring up an appropriately contrite feeling or accepting layer upon layer of guilt until you just want to jump off a cliff, is not what confession is all about.
It’s about mercy.
The Canon from St. Paul’s went on to describe what church confession does and what it does is first acknowledge the fact that we human beings commit sin. It is simply our nature. Second, confession describes how “sin is manifest: through negligence, weakness, through our own deliberate fault.” It’s not just what we do but what we don’t do as well. It’s not just what we say but also what we think. Murder is obviously a sin, but so is hatred.[iii]
When it comes to confessing, we’ve all got a story to tell. We’ve all got a reason to ask God for mercy.
Biblical Context: What’s going on?
In this letter to Timothy that we read today, the writer tells his own story. He talks about his own need for mercy.
“I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. I had acted ignorantly in unbelief.”[iv]
It begins like this:
Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is no one who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God. They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one.[i]
Well what are we to make of that? Surely there is someone who is good. Surely there is at least one person who has done no abominable deeds. Surely somebody out there truly seeks after God.
I know that I do.
And I know that you do too.
We’re good people, you and I. Aren’t we?
After all we’re here in church today and that makes us good people, doesn’t it? At least that must mean that we are not the ones saying: “There is no God.” I didn’t do any deliberate harm to anyone on the way here and that too makes me good, doesn’t it? I haven’t coveted anybody’s anything or taken the Lord’s name in vain or murdered or stolen or littered or even forgotten to make up my bed today and all that makes me a good person. Doesn’t it?
Well that’s what many people think to themselves about themselves. So when they come to the moment for silent prayer in the prayer of confession, they shift in their pews uncomfortably. They shuffle their feet or pick at their fingernails because they can’t think of anything to pray.
A Canon on the clergy staff at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London remarked that in some baptism services in the Anglican tradition where people are asked if they “repent of sins that separate us from God and neighbour,” you could actually perceive the mental calisthenics that people were doing just to think of something they’d done wrong so that they could feel appropriately penitent at that particular moment when such a feeling was required of them by church ceremony.[ii]
But conjuring up an appropriately contrite feeling or accepting layer upon layer of guilt until you just want to jump off a cliff, is not what confession is all about.
It’s about mercy.
The Canon from St. Paul’s went on to describe what church confession does and what it does is first acknowledge the fact that we human beings commit sin. It is simply our nature. Second, confession describes how “sin is manifest: through negligence, weakness, through our own deliberate fault.” It’s not just what we do but what we don’t do as well. It’s not just what we say but also what we think. Murder is obviously a sin, but so is hatred.[iii]
When it comes to confessing, we’ve all got a story to tell. We’ve all got a reason to ask God for mercy.
Biblical Context: What’s going on?
In this letter to Timothy that we read today, the writer tells his own story. He talks about his own need for mercy.
“I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. I had acted ignorantly in unbelief.”[iv]
This writer is acknowledging his sins in word and thought, his sins in deeds, his sins in ignorance and negligence, his sins in weakness, and in deliberate fault. It’s all there.
This letter is referred to as one of the Pastoral Epistles which includes both letters to Timothy and the letter to Titus. Now traditionally, these were thought to have been written by the Apostle Paul late in his ministry. But more recent scholars have recognized that the theology expressed in the Pastorals conflicts with theology of Paul in letters that we are sure Paul wrote like Romans, Galatians, and Corinthians.
Much of the content of 1st Timothy relates to conflicts in the church and how those conflicts should be dealt with. But these conflicts were about disruptions to a church organization that saw itself with a long term role in society. Paul, however, thought the end of time was near and was interested in the church in the short term rather than in the long term.
So who wrote these letters and what can we do with them?
Perhaps it was someone in the Pauline tradition some years after Paul’s death by which time everybody realized that the end of the age was a bit farther off than Paul or any other of the Apostles had expected. In that situation, Paul’s proteges had to resolve long term church issues that Paul hadn’t imagined. And yet, they sought to resolve those issues under the authority and the name of Paul.
And when it came to confession of sin, they used a version of Paul’s story.
You remember that Paul was a Jewish zealot who persecuted the Christian church but was at the same time righteous in terms of the Torah law. In other words, he kept the Commandments and the other laws of Moses and followed the teachings of the prophets. In terms of Judaism, he was definitely not a blasphemer. He was not someone who needed mercy for committing sin under the Hebrew traditions.
But something changed- he was converted. This paul now testifies about his need for mercy. His persecution of the Christians made him a man of violence. His denial of the divinity of Christ made him a blasphemer. This writer from the school of Paul or in the style of Paul, tells Paul’s story in order to provide a personal example.
He is an example of the human capacity for sin and he is an example of the human need for mercy.
In effect, this writer is saying: “I was the biggest sinner around. My need for mercy was tremendous. I sinned against God by blaspheming. I sinned against other people through my violent ways. I even sinned when I didn’t realize I was sinnin g because I was ignorant of the fact that what I was doing was wrong because I did not believe in Christ Jesus.”
Explication of Text: What’s it all mean?
But the writer is saying one thing more. He is saying: “If I was the biggest sinner around and God had mercy on me then God will show mercy on anyone. No one was less deserving of mercy and more in need of mercy than I was and yet the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”
This story makes Paul into an example but it does not make Paul into a hero. Paul isn’t some triumphant banner carrier for Christ in a righteous army of faithful Christians. Paul was judged. Paul was found guilty of his blasphemy and his violence and his ignorant unbelief. The amazing thing is that Paul still received mercy.
That’s what makes this passage so amazing. Paul didn’t get a free pass. He was judged and he still received mercy. He was given a reprieve even though he was sinful. He was strengthened by Christ even though he was sinful.
The story of this Paul is not about conjuring up an appropriately contrite feeling or accepting layer upon layer of guilt until he just wanted to jump off a cliff. The story of this Paul is about receiving mercy.
The whole gospel is about receiving mercy.
Christ Jesus is about receiving mercy.
And so this passage from 1st Timothy includes the wonderful doxology that we often use as our assurance of pardon: “The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”
It’s all about receiving mercy.
Listener Context: How does this relate to my life?
I think that many people who dislike the Christian concept of confession of sin only see confession as the laying on of guilt.
For them, sin is like a stack of clammy pancakes that have sat out on the plate too long and have grown cold. The stack grows taller and taller. The syrup gets stickier and stickier until the pancakes become a plateful of inedible, unappealing mush. The eater’s appetite disolves and they are driven away from the table.
That clammy stack of guilt is all they see and so they’re driven away from church and driven away from Christ because they think the judgement will be too much for them. They think they will be put down by God and will become unable to see themselves positively in the future.
That’s unfortunate because then they miss the part about mercy. They don’t see that confession to God leads to mercy from God. They don’t see that mercy from God changes their relationship with other people for the better and changes how they see themselves for the better.
But I think that group is actually a minority.
The majority are people who dislike the Christian concept of confession of sin because they don’t think they have sinned. When it comes time for the silent confession they are the ones shifting around in their pew uncomfortably. Not only can they not think of anything they’ve done wrong lately but they think of sins as deliberate acts of felonious significance. Sin is murder or theft or road rage or animal abuse or fraud, something you go to court for and maybe even something you go to jail for. And since they have not done anything of that magnitude, these folks don’t think that they have done anything that requires forgiveness from God or anybody else for that matter.
In essence, these are kind of like the people described in Psalm 14 who say in their hearts that there is no God. The idea in the Psalm is not just that some people disavow the existence of God. It’s not just that some people deny the possibility of God. We call that atheism. No these people act as if there is no God. They act as if there is no need for God’s mercy, no need for God.
This kind of atheism has more to do with how people behave rather than what they believe. We call this “practical atheism.”[v] It’s a kind of autonomy in which people judge for themselves whether or not their deeds require repentence. If you can decide something like that for yourself, then you obviously don’t need God. If you can decide for yourself what the law is and whether or not you’ve broken that law, then you have no need either for God’s judgement or God’s mercy.
But here’s the universal truth that we try to deny all our lives: the Psalm says that when the Lord looks down on humankind, there is no one who seeks God.
We all think we can make up our own index of right and wrong. At times, we all think we have nothing to confess.
Conclusion: What’s the Point?
That is why the example of the Pauline writer in 1st Timothy is so important.
Paul was a preacher and teacher and evangelist who was widely known and respected in the first century Christian communities of Greece and Rome. His example could lead others to re-evaluate their own lives. His story could lead others to re-examine their own stories. His willingness to confess his sinfulness and tell of the mercy he had received from God could lead others to confess and receive mercy.
We don’t seem to get many church or civic leaders who confess freely and honestly and tell their stories unless they’ve done some great wrong and have gotten caught. Occasionally, some television evangelist does something sensational that undermines his credibility and cries publicly about his guilt- and gets a boost in ratings and advertising dollars.
So who wrote these letters and what can we do with them?
Perhaps it was someone in the Pauline tradition some years after Paul’s death by which time everybody realized that the end of the age was a bit farther off than Paul or any other of the Apostles had expected. In that situation, Paul’s proteges had to resolve long term church issues that Paul hadn’t imagined. And yet, they sought to resolve those issues under the authority and the name of Paul.
And when it came to confession of sin, they used a version of Paul’s story.
You remember that Paul was a Jewish zealot who persecuted the Christian church but was at the same time righteous in terms of the Torah law. In other words, he kept the Commandments and the other laws of Moses and followed the teachings of the prophets. In terms of Judaism, he was definitely not a blasphemer. He was not someone who needed mercy for committing sin under the Hebrew traditions.
But something changed- he was converted. This paul now testifies about his need for mercy. His persecution of the Christians made him a man of violence. His denial of the divinity of Christ made him a blasphemer. This writer from the school of Paul or in the style of Paul, tells Paul’s story in order to provide a personal example.
He is an example of the human capacity for sin and he is an example of the human need for mercy.
In effect, this writer is saying: “I was the biggest sinner around. My need for mercy was tremendous. I sinned against God by blaspheming. I sinned against other people through my violent ways. I even sinned when I didn’t realize I was sinnin g because I was ignorant of the fact that what I was doing was wrong because I did not believe in Christ Jesus.”
Explication of Text: What’s it all mean?
But the writer is saying one thing more. He is saying: “If I was the biggest sinner around and God had mercy on me then God will show mercy on anyone. No one was less deserving of mercy and more in need of mercy than I was and yet the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”
This story makes Paul into an example but it does not make Paul into a hero. Paul isn’t some triumphant banner carrier for Christ in a righteous army of faithful Christians. Paul was judged. Paul was found guilty of his blasphemy and his violence and his ignorant unbelief. The amazing thing is that Paul still received mercy.
That’s what makes this passage so amazing. Paul didn’t get a free pass. He was judged and he still received mercy. He was given a reprieve even though he was sinful. He was strengthened by Christ even though he was sinful.
The story of this Paul is not about conjuring up an appropriately contrite feeling or accepting layer upon layer of guilt until he just wanted to jump off a cliff. The story of this Paul is about receiving mercy.
The whole gospel is about receiving mercy.
Christ Jesus is about receiving mercy.
And so this passage from 1st Timothy includes the wonderful doxology that we often use as our assurance of pardon: “The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”
It’s all about receiving mercy.
Listener Context: How does this relate to my life?
I think that many people who dislike the Christian concept of confession of sin only see confession as the laying on of guilt.
For them, sin is like a stack of clammy pancakes that have sat out on the plate too long and have grown cold. The stack grows taller and taller. The syrup gets stickier and stickier until the pancakes become a plateful of inedible, unappealing mush. The eater’s appetite disolves and they are driven away from the table.
That clammy stack of guilt is all they see and so they’re driven away from church and driven away from Christ because they think the judgement will be too much for them. They think they will be put down by God and will become unable to see themselves positively in the future.
That’s unfortunate because then they miss the part about mercy. They don’t see that confession to God leads to mercy from God. They don’t see that mercy from God changes their relationship with other people for the better and changes how they see themselves for the better.
But I think that group is actually a minority.
The majority are people who dislike the Christian concept of confession of sin because they don’t think they have sinned. When it comes time for the silent confession they are the ones shifting around in their pew uncomfortably. Not only can they not think of anything they’ve done wrong lately but they think of sins as deliberate acts of felonious significance. Sin is murder or theft or road rage or animal abuse or fraud, something you go to court for and maybe even something you go to jail for. And since they have not done anything of that magnitude, these folks don’t think that they have done anything that requires forgiveness from God or anybody else for that matter.
In essence, these are kind of like the people described in Psalm 14 who say in their hearts that there is no God. The idea in the Psalm is not just that some people disavow the existence of God. It’s not just that some people deny the possibility of God. We call that atheism. No these people act as if there is no God. They act as if there is no need for God’s mercy, no need for God.
This kind of atheism has more to do with how people behave rather than what they believe. We call this “practical atheism.”[v] It’s a kind of autonomy in which people judge for themselves whether or not their deeds require repentence. If you can decide something like that for yourself, then you obviously don’t need God. If you can decide for yourself what the law is and whether or not you’ve broken that law, then you have no need either for God’s judgement or God’s mercy.
But here’s the universal truth that we try to deny all our lives: the Psalm says that when the Lord looks down on humankind, there is no one who seeks God.
We all think we can make up our own index of right and wrong. At times, we all think we have nothing to confess.
Conclusion: What’s the Point?
That is why the example of the Pauline writer in 1st Timothy is so important.
Paul was a preacher and teacher and evangelist who was widely known and respected in the first century Christian communities of Greece and Rome. His example could lead others to re-evaluate their own lives. His story could lead others to re-examine their own stories. His willingness to confess his sinfulness and tell of the mercy he had received from God could lead others to confess and receive mercy.
We don’t seem to get many church or civic leaders who confess freely and honestly and tell their stories unless they’ve done some great wrong and have gotten caught. Occasionally, some television evangelist does something sensational that undermines his credibility and cries publicly about his guilt- and gets a boost in ratings and advertising dollars.
But there are very few religious leaders who make an example of the sinfulness of their everyday live in both words and thoughts, in deeds and in deeds left undone.
So we use the example of ourselves, for ourselves. We make our confession aloud together to take responsibility for what we do as a society and we bow our heads to make our individual confessions directly to God.
And then the minister tells us that God has heard our confession and that we are forgiven.
We learn that the saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and we are grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord who has strengthened us and appointed us to his service. AMEN.
So we use the example of ourselves, for ourselves. We make our confession aloud together to take responsibility for what we do as a society and we bow our heads to make our individual confessions directly to God.
And then the minister tells us that God has heard our confession and that we are forgiven.
We learn that the saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and we are grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord who has strengthened us and appointed us to his service. AMEN.
[i] Psalm 14: 1-3.
[ii] http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/page.cfm?ID=97.
[iii] ibid.
[iv] 1 Timothy1:12-13
[v] Cousar, Gaventa, McCann, Newsome. Texts For Preaching. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994), 510.
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