Thoughts on Corporate Confession

 Thoughts on Corporate Confession

This morning’s devotion was about the act of confession. I must confess (see what I did there?) that it is a part of Christian practice to which  I haven’t given an overly large amount of thought over the years. I would guess that this may be the case for many. We tend to often fall into going through the motions in our worship services and increasingly my experience has been that many services either omit a corporate confession (and absolution) or the wording has been changed from the traditional so that, although it is there, while the worshiper is “on auto pilot” it may be missed. In recent years, I have been finding more and more meaning in the familiar rhythms of the liturgy, probably something to do with getting older, although I’d hate to admit that, and corporate confession and absolution has become one of the more meaningful things.

Over the past month, this devotion marks the third time I have encountered the topic. I am helping a granddaughter work through the catechism, and we recently covered confession. Then, our pastor asked me to help out for a week with confirmation class and the topic to be covered, confession. Then, today, came this devotion. 

In the formal act of corporate confession, we are often confronted with acknowledging not only those things we have done but also those things that we have left undone, and it is this category that the devotion dealt with. The act of confession shows us the importance of acknowledging our sin. It is easier to identify the things that we have done wrong, but sometimes we tend to gloss over the things that we have omitted to do. The author of the devotion put it this way. “…the act of confessing it puts a box [ ] next to all of the things we’ve left undone”. It forces us to be honest about ourselves. I think that it is this honesty, and including myself right along with all the others as a sinner, that enables the individual, me, to actually then “hear” the words of forgiveness in the absolution (something we don’t hear spoken in our private confession to God) and experience what the author calls “that moment of grace”. It encourages us and gives us confidence as we ,”enter the next moment, the next week” in our work of living for God and for others.  

Did I Miss the Memo?

People are angry in America and seemingly have been for several years now. This anger seems to have grown more heated, more public and more political in recent years. My own recognition of it started in the mid 1970s, the post Nixon, Vietnam years; however, this was also the beginning of the Reagan era, the culmination of years of work by the resurgent conservative movement that emerged with the likes of William F. Buckley in the 1950s. This movement was not new, however. It reflected anti-federal policy attitudes of the post New Deal era and prior to that, it reflected the failed policies of the politics of prosperity of the post World War I era.

It was also in the 1970s that America began to once again hear echoes of the faded religious fundamentalist movement of the 1920s merge with Nixon’s 1968 railings for “law and order”, culminating in a call, similar to post WWI, for a moral or cultural “return to normalcy”; and the US experienced the emergence of what we now call the religious right.

So where did the anger come from? I recall a ‘70s movie, I think it was entitled Network, which was based on a character responding to what he felt were injustices which were beyond the average person’s ability to fix. He began a career, or show on based on the chant, “I am as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” He was a television personality and he engaged in a televised rant against the system. He had people all over the country opening their windows and chanting “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”  Actual American viewers responded well to the movie, and it was about this time that I personally recall the political right begin to actively court the religious right and begin to preach the message that Americans needed to take back their country. Interestingly, the movie character, at least as I recall was ranting against corporate policy, but the movement conservatives that emerged channeled their anger toward the federal government. Because of my chosen profession, I tend to run in very conservative circles and I recall many voices echoing the sentiment that Americans needed to be afraid and angry and stand up and “not take it anymore”. Our way of life was at stake.

So, I began with the question, did I miss the memo? This past week, we saw the Republican National Convention and I listened to the party’s presidential nominee. If I believe what I heard during and before the convention, my life should be in ruins, and America should be on the verge of falling apart. After all, I’m in the middle class right in the cross hairs of this disaster. I should be “mad as hell”. But, here’s the thing. My life is not a disaster. I have managed to get a BA and two masters degrees, I have health insurance, a steady job, my house is all but paid for, I have a property with a vineyard and a small winery, we were able to put two kids through college (with their help) with no debt, I can worship freely.  All of this and I still only make a 5 figure income, just barely into the top half of 5 figures at that. Yes, my wife works as well, also 5 figures just under half in that category with a BA and a masters degree. I pay taxes and to be honest, I have more often voted for tax increases than against. My experience is that Americans are better working together and for each other than when we try to all go it alone.

So, from where does this anger come? I get the message that I should be angry with my government, but that is not my experience, and as I look around, at least in my community, that is not the reality for most people. We need to stop and think about this call for anger. Given our history, I suggest there is something else at play here. If I can be convinced to be blindly angry, I can be convinced to follow any plan to help me express that anger. I submit that anger and fear have been the tool employed by the political and religious right to get people to follow their political agenda.

So, I guess I missed the memo that told me I should be angry with my government for all of the misfortunes in my life. Those of you who know me know that I am no Pollyanna who thinks everything is always rosy.  There are always problems to be confronted and solved, but fear mongering and telling people they should be afraid and that “I” have the silver bullet that will solve all of their problems is not the way to confront important issues in a democracy.