April 23, 2006

POST-A-SIN

1 John 1:1-2; 22, Psalm 133

            Two church deacons were having a sociable beer in the local tavern when they saw their minister drive by and take a good long look at their pickup trucks parked outside.  One deacon ducked down and said, “I hope the reverend didn’t see us or recognize my pickup truck”.  The other replied, indifferently, “what difference does it make God knows we’re in here, and God is the only one that counts”. The first deacon answered, “yeah but God won’t tell my wife”.

            Secrets, what’s the one thing you’ve done that nobody else can ever know about, gulp.  The mere thought of having our most private secrets revealed inspires a hard swallow and a pounding heart.

\           The Catholic Church deals with this in a great way, confession, you step into a booth, confess your  sins to a priest, Say a couple of hail marys and you are forgiven, you are good to go.  Counseling with a therapist works somewhat in the same way, on a secular level.

            Today there is a web-site called Post-A-Sin.  I know another web-site story, but they are increasingly becoming a large part of how we live.  On this web-site you post your sins, anonymously, this site is for people who need to get something off their chest or mind!  All these anonymous are available to be viewed by others.  Consider the therapeutic benefits here, others can look at what you have done and instantly feel better about themselves.  No need to bother with an expensive therapist to improve self-esteem.

            Today, in our society we love secrets, as long as they are someone else’s.  We love to learn about secret lives of celebrities.  Reality television is popular.  One of the most popular shows on television is Desperate Housewives which focuses on secrets.  We love to wallow in other peoples secrets, it entertains us, it shocks us and it makes us feel better about ourselves.

            Okay, critique is cheap.  We are in a lot of trouble if our Christian beliefs don’t offer us something more authentic, more personal and more real.  And 1st John one gives us more.

            Many times there is a false reality about which we seem too comfortable and silent; Christians who worship a God who is light still carry around dark things, dark words, dark thoughts, dark actions, and dark omissions.

            The analogy that 1 John offers is a great one, walk into a room with the lights on and try to find a dark place, it will always be the farthest distance away from the light source or it will be in a shadow, a dark place that is hidden from the light.

            When we fall short of thinking, feeling and acting in ways that reflect God we are like darkness in a lit room, far from God and hiding from God!  We typically view confession as that Catholic thing where people go to a priest, or perhaps today telling a friend, doing a good deed to make up for something bad, or logging onto a web-site.  But in today’s scripture passage, confession is different; it is presented as a normal part of healthy Christian rhythms.

            Verse 9 says confession will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  Not cleanse in the past tense, cleanse in the present tense.  An assumed ongoing activity, it’s how they come out of hiding, confession creates a clean relationship.

            Christian confession is an owning up to the reality of the ways in which we have not perfectly followed Christ, God is already aware of these things so confession is not an information transfer, it’s a relational healing.  Confession restores right relationship with God when we say something dumb to a spouse or a friend, things are stilted between us until we go and seek forgiveness.  Relationship is awkward when there is an offense between people.

            Relationship; between God and his followers is no different when wrongs between them remain unrecognized and unreconciled.  But confession also restores our relationship with other Christians, coming out of the darkness and into the light grants us fellowship with one another.  Confession places us back on the common ground of our identity in Christ, as his co-followers, not as his co-offenders. 

            And relationship with other believers cannot only be the end of confession; it can be the means as well.  James 3:16 says, “To confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.           

            But how much do we balk at such a radical concept, everyone likes to have their stuff all together, people don’t like to be wrong and for sure nobody likes to admit they’re wrong even when they know they are.  We are more consumed with being right and not getting right.  Saying we are sorry is difficult, it’s difficult to get those two words out sometimes.    

            But how ridiculous is it for us to tell somebody else that we feel sorry when we wronged God?  What does he have to do with something between God and us? Well apparently James and John see something in confession to one another.

            When you were a kid, did you ever lie awake at night believing there were monsters under the bed or in the closet?  Well two things are true about these monsters; when parents come into the room or the lights come on the monsters lose their power.

            Sin is the same kind of monster, it holds power and influence over us, it is tempting and attractive, it comes after us in a dark place when nobody else is there, but when we tell some body else about the sins we wrestle with, somebody else comes into the room, the lights get turned on and the monster loses its teeth.

            That is why Post-A-Sin does not work completely.  Post-A-Sin is the announcement of wrongs to an impersonal web-site; Christian confession is ownership of wrongs to a personal God and caring people.  Post-A-Sin results in entertainment for others, Christian confession results in connection with others.

            A great deal of our Christian beliefs and worship; center around confession, we tend to somewhat ignore confession in our worship litanies.

            Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word,

            and deed.

            We have not loved you with our whole heart.

            We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

We are truly sorry and we repent.  Have mercy on us and forgive us that we may delight in your will and walk in you ways to the glory of your name.  That is no dot com entertainment. This is real Christian intimacy.

            Amen.

            Let us pray.