In Morning and Evening Prayer, right after the opening sentence, which are meant to orient and attune our hearts to the presence of God (see last week’s Reflection), we come to the confession of sin. Today, I want to reflect on two questions:
- Why is this the starting point?
- What are we saying with this prayer?
Why begin with confession?
Perhaps you are thinking—this is kind of a downer way to start a prayer time! But more than a way to focus on how bad we are, confession is a way to highlight how good the Lord is—He is holy, holy, holy, and no sin can exist in His presence. When we sinners come into His presence, we have an immediate problem—we don’t have the right to be here! None of us have the right, on our own merits, to stand in the presence of Almighty God. We come by His invitation, and only by His grace poured out to us in Jesus Christ.
So, to begin with confession is to acknowledge right up front that the grace of Christ is the grounding force of our prayer life. It is the cleansing blood of Jesus that has given us access to the Father, through the Spirit. If we do not build our prayer life up on this firm foundation, then the whole structure is liable to collapse. We confess our sins to the Lord so that we can more deeply rejoice in His grace, and establish our time with Him upon His loving and strong salvation.
Confession is our starting point because the grace of Christ is the foundation we must build upon. Not only is this essential for our times of prayer and worship, but it is essential for the Christian life (because prayer IS the Christian life). When we allow our prayer lives to form our hearts in this way, we become more and more the kind of people who humbly and joyfully live in the life of grace, because we have seen our sins washed away.
What are we doing in confession?
The invitation to this prayer of confession (BCP p. 11, 41) states that “the Scriptures teach us to acknowledge our many sins and offenses, not concealing them from our heavenly Father, but confessing them with humble and obedient hearts that we may obtain forgiveness by his infinite goodness and mercy…”
We cannot hide who we are or what we have done from the Lord, and we should not attempt to conceal our sins from Him. If we are going to have an honest, deep, and abiding relationship with God, we can’t pretend before Him. Performative virtue signaling and curated moral behavior won’t fly before the One who sees all things and knows the depths of our hearts. We aim to be humble, vulnerable, and honest before the Lord. We need to be honest and acknowledge that we are sinners—in thought, word, and deed, we have broken God’s perfect law and the standard for which He made us.
We confess both our sinful condition and our sinful deeds. We have followed our own sinful hearts more faithfully than we have followed Jesus. We have done those things that we should not have done, and left undone those things that should have been done. We have had evil thoughts that we have entertained far more than they deserved, and we harbor hatred and greed and lust and envy and profound self-centeredness in our hearts. All of this culminates in the confession that “Apart from your grace, there is no health in us.” That is the reality of our situation. Who we are, at our core, is lost sheep with hearts prone to wander away from our Lord. We are self-centered idolaters who have nothing in ourselves to commend ourselves.
Ask the Holy Spirit if there is anything specific (actions, words, thoughts, or heart postures) that you should confess to God. But you also can come and simply acknowledge humbly, “I am a sinner, in need of your mercy.” If all this sounds depressing, fear not, for this is right where the Lord wants to meet you.
We come to ask humbly for that mercy, asking the Lord to spare us from the just penalty of our sins, to restore us to life, bringing us freedom from the death of sin. Because of His promises declared to us in Christ Jesus, we ask for the application of His shed blood to be poured out upon our sinful hearts to bring us forgiveness. And in that forgiveness, we ask for the grace to now live a godly, righteous, and sober life to the glory of His name, so that in repentance we will be set back on the narrow path of the Christian life.
This is what we need more than oxygen, more than life itself—the mercy of God in Christ. And the Lord, our heavenly Father, is delighted to give it to us. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I hope you can hear the promise in that—He is always faithful and just to forgive us when we come to Him. He will never turn you away. There is nothing that can make Him ashamed of you. The Lord Jesus invites you to cast your sins upon Him, nailing them to the cross, that He might cleanse you, heal you, and make you new.
When Christians confess our sins, we always have immediate assurance of our forgiveness and pardon. Your forgiveness isn’t gained because you prayed a really good prayer—your forgiveness was gained 2,000 years ago on a Roman cross outside Jerusalem. Your confession and the received absolution is a way of bringing that saving work to bear on your heart, today. Because you and I need it, today.
In Christ, your sins are washed away. You have received forgiveness and absolution, and you are free from the dominion of sin over your soul. You are free to know the peace of Christ. You are free to live for Him and serve Him with a quiet mind that is undisturbed by guilt and shame. You are free to praise the Lord your Savior and King—more on that next week!
May the Lord meet you this week as you come to Him, humbly and joyfully confessing your sins to Him who redeems you in love.
For Your Reflection:
- Do find yourself hesitating at the belief that you are fundamentally a sinner, a lost sheep, in whom there is no health? Why do you think you react in that way?
- Do you ever still feel the weight of guilt or shame for your sins, even after you confess them and try to repent? Why do you think that is? What does Jesus want to say to you in that situation?
- A professor of mine in seminary would always say, “If your repentance doesn’t bring you joy, you’re doing it wrong!” Ponder this statement, and consider how your confession and repentance might bring you into a deeper joy in the Lord.