Advent Day 22
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)
I heard about a website on which you can unload all your dirty secrets anonymously. Someone else in the room, when we heard about the website, protested that confession to some unknown person is a cop-out. You need to acknowledge what you did wrong to real people, especially anyone you wronged, the argument went.
How to say “I’m sorry” is huge debate within Christianity. Should we confess our sins to a priest? Should we say a group prayer of confession on Sundays? Should it all be private? And hey, why do we concentrate on sin so much? We look like the monks beating themselves on the head in “Monty Python and The Holy Grail” …
I agree with what the wise person in the room said when we heard about the confession website: bring it back to real people. It’s a beautiful thing when one person sincerely says “I’m sorry,” the person who was wronged sincerely says, “I forgive you,” and they both work at getting back on track. The whole process may take a while but when it goes right, it simply overflows with grace.
Even though this is a joyful season, you may have a strained relationship with a family member or hometown friend this year. Go ahead and confess! You may not be the only one at fault, but you can begin a process of making it right.
Today’s daily Scripture reading from the PC(USA): http://gamc.pcusa.org/devotion/daily/2010/12/19/
Pastor2K 