Faith
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Thinking the Faith, Praying the Faith, Living the Faith is written by the PC(USA) Office of Theology and Worship.
Thinking, praying, and living the faith is at the core of ministry in the Office of Theology and Worship. In the following videos, learn more about what thinking, praying, and living the faith means to the leadership of the Office of Theology and Worship. Discover why it matters and what difference it makes in our lives, work, and worship.
Charles Wiley
Barry Ensign-George
David Gambrell
Christine Hong
Karen Russell
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The Worship Curmudgeon: Call Us to Confession
“Let’s now say together the prayer of confession.” That’s how one ill-trained liturgist called us to confession one Sunday. There was actually no call to confession, just an announcement that said, in effect, “Ok, we’re gonna do this now, folks.” Argh!
Apt sinners that we are, we need called (dragged?) to confession. Without a call to confession, we have no idea why we’re saying we’re sorry to God. Without it, a confession of sin feels like we’re going to say I’m sorry because our mother told us we had to apologize to our sister. We mumble the words, but we’re not really sorry. We know it, our sister knows it, our mother knows it: we’re just going through the motions. And we thereby miss out on true reconciliation and living freed of sin.
A while back a friend of mine called me on my “theological BS that was being used to justify what may just be outright sin.” Theologians are a clever lot, and we can do this quite well. We use big words for bigger concepts and make people think we know what we’re talking about when sometimes, to be honest, it’s a shot in the dark inscrutable mystery of God’s will and we’re overreaching. My friend called me to confess this. It wasn’t as elegantly worded as I might have liked, but he cared enough about me to call me to confess my sin of theological obfuscation. And I am deeply grateful.
How many of us have had relationships that drifted apart without ever knowing why? Years later you find out it was because you’d hurt the person and didn’t even know it. If they had told you about the hurt, i.e. called you to confession, you’d have had the chance to say you were sorry and make amends. The relationship could have continued. But, instead, without the call to confession, it ended.
Calling someone to confession is an act of love and caring for them, ourselves, and the relationship we share. The reason why we’re called to confession is because something is hindering the relationship so much that it can’t flourish without attending to what is getting in the way first. That’s why a confession of sin comes early in our order of worship as an entrance rite. Our order of worship also shows us how we’re to call someone to accountability for their harmful actions--not with castigating blame but with assurance that the other wants the relationship to continue and is ready to forgive.
God loves us enough to call us to confession for our sin that gets in the way of the flourishing of our relationship with the Holy Other. This isn’t a “downer,” as many folks think who’ve thrown out the whole confession of sin from their order of worship in order to appeal to the unchurched. This is good news! God wants to be in a stronger relationship with us and has spared nothing in order to demonstrate that through Jesus Christ. The call comes with the promise that “God who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9) or with the assurance that even while we were in the midst of sinning, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Because Christ “can sympathize with us in our weakness” as our Great High Priest, we dare to approach the throne of grace with full assurance, our hearts sprinkled clean by virtue of our baptism in him (Hebrews 4:14-16, 10:22).
So boldly call us to confession! Care enough about folks to remind us that even as we stand to praise God in the sanctuary, there are some things that we need to lay aside in order to go deeper into God’s love. Remind us that the Lord cares enough about us to want us to experience the good news of the gospel: in Jesus Christ, we are forgiven, freed to love and be loved in the fullness of Holy Spirit.
- Posted at 3:28 p.m.
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