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The Sacrament of Confession & Absolution/Reconciliation: Finding the Freedom from Masks the Suffocate Us…
Discussion thought of the day:
In our Bible Study last night – we talked of a description of some religious leaders in Israel’s history who “whitewashed” that which was being built, before it was completed. They made it look pretty and nice and completed. The problem, they whitewashed everything without checking to make sure the job was done write. In our Bible Study this morning, ( a different group) we were in Hebrews 6, where it talks about the difference between believers and others, one produced a crop that was a blessing, the other produced thistles and thorns (my paraphrase – roses) that might have nice flowers and an incredible smell, but were not just inedible, but would actually injure a person.
At the end of devotions today, I came across this quote: You asked me to suggest a way for winning through in your daily struggles, and I replied: When you lay your soul open, say first of all what you wouldn’t like to be known. In this way the devil will always end up defeated. Lay your soul wide open, clearly and simply, so that the rays of God’s Love may reach and illuminate the last corner of it! (1)
It is one of the mysteries of life why we hide that which needs healing, and why that which is broken we cover. Having a five year old – it seems that this isn’t something we learn, but something that is part of our DNA. We don’t like going to doctors or dentists or auto-repair shops or having our houses or workplaces inspected, never mind having a review done. And in hiding the the broken in us that needs healing,, we must hide our hearts, our souls, we must cover them, and put on a mask that has a bright smile. That mask can, and does suffocate us, the false front we have to put up will slowly cause us to fade out, to expire.
The answer is simple – in Ezekiel – God will tear down the walls, or as St. Josemarie describes it – “laying open your soul”. St Peter talks of this as the Holy Spirit cutting their hearts open. For surely the strength to be honest and to deal with sin comes not from our internal instinct. We would continue to hide, to continue to pretend we are okay, covering up our brokenness with false smiles and quick, “I’m fine”.
The answer seems painful, it may cause anxiety the first dozen plus times, yet.. the freedom of letting those things be dealt with by God is amazing, it is wondrous, it breaks bondage and washes away anxiety and drives away the darkness, leaves us knowing God’s peace. To hear the words, yes, God forgives you your sin, you are cleansed, you are healed – to know that what was broken – God has put back together. If it seems to good to be true – remember this is God’s desire, as St Peter tells us:
3:9 The Lord is not being slow in carrying out his promises, as some people think he is; rather is he being patient with you, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 (NJB)
and as St John tells us, it is His promise
” If we say, ‘We have no sin,’ we are deceiving ourselves, and truth has no place in us; 9 if we acknowledge our sins, he is trustworthy and upright, so that he will forgive our sins and will cleanse us from all evil.” 1 John 1:8-9 (NJB)
and one more promise for good measure, from St. James:
5:16 So then, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you will be healed. The prayer of a good person has a powerful effect. James 5:16 (TEV)
So open your lives, find a pastor ( I know where one is waiting in Cerritos) or a priest- and hear for yourself – regarding those sins you don’t even want to admit to your self – that they are forgiven.
Lord have mercy, and show us that we can open up out hearts – that the mercy will cause us great joy!
(1)Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 644-647). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Vacation – rest and revitalization…honestly?
Devotional thought of the day:
It started yesterday – about noonish – we started the packing of our “new” trailer, and it took five-ish hours, with my son giving tours to our neighbors. Then a little over 2 and a half hours to drive the 90 miles to the campground, another 2 hours to set up.
While our popup trailer is comparatively comfortable – it will take a few days to get used to it – every morning a three inch mattress will remind it us its not a tempurpedic, but chaDevotional thought of the day: It started yesterday – about noonish – we started the packing of our “new” trailer, and it took five-ish hours, with my son giving tours to our neighbors. Then a little over 2 and a half hours to drive the 90 miles to the campground, another 2 hours to set up. While our popup trailer is comparatively comfortable – it will take a few days to get used to it – every morning a three inch mattress will remind it us its not a tempurpedic, but chasing a five year old will bring that mattress to call to us very welcoming at the end of each day! A
And this is supposed to be rest and rejuvination? Hmmmm…
As we let people know we were actually going on vacation, many said to leave everything behind, just go and have fun… (as if life at Concordia isn’t fun, or at least thrilling in that rollercoaster, stomach twisting kind of adventure way!)
At first I acknowledged their wisdom, but realized that part of me wouldn’t leave Cerritos. I thought it would be my mind, that it would keep trying to work through everything. I was wrong, something is still there, but it isn’t my mind, it’s my heart.
In four years at Concordia (this week is the anniversary – so about time for a vacation?) I have watched people’s faith really blossom. When I got there, they had a unique tradition – every Bible Study starts and ends with the teacher stating, “The Lord is with you!”… This tradition I have come to love, and it really has become that which shapes our ministry here. ANd as I look and pray through our families, it only is made clearer that we truly need that knowledge, that blessing, the assurance than comes with His presence.
And they have gotten it – it is evident as they respond to that blessing, with words I love to here – for they are heart felt – they want me to know God is with me, just as much as they are learning to count on it.
St Paul once wrote a prayer for a church that he loved, and missed, and said,
3:14 My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, 15 this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. 16 I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength— 17 that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, 18 you’ll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! 19 Live full lives, full in the fullness of God. 20 God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.
Ephesians 3:14-20 (MSG)
If I could describe the people of my church, it is often that they are like kids at Christmas, just opening their eyes to the magnificence of God’s love for them…. they are starting to see this – and oh is it a joy to see it, as they witness another person to whom God’s promises are poured out in baptism, or as they see their burdens and anxieties lifted off them as we hear God’s forgiveness delivered, and as we pray…and as we feast together – in our potlucks for sure, but in the more precious meal of Christ’s Body and Blood..
As they live out our mission and motto – that Concordia is the place where people heal in Christ, while helping others heal…
In this, they are being revealed to be the very craftsmanship of God (see Eph 2:10) , or in Latin, the Opus Dei, in Greek – the Poiema – the poem
It is not my mind I left behind, as much as my heart – and the joy of seeing people know God’s love for them.. of realizing that God has called them into a relationship where He is there Father, and them finding rest there…. of them knowing the words, “the Lord is with you” and reminding me in response, that He is also with me….
That’s where I truly and revitalized, and I look forward to being back!
The Cry of the Broken life Answered
Discussion/Devotional thought of the day:
Hear the words of one whose life was broken….
I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question? Romans 7:24 (MSG)
As I’ve been writing this week on brokenness – passages keep popping into my mind, proof that our generation isn’t the first broken. And proof that even as those who believe and trust in Jesus, we struggle with sin. Yesterday I wrote that the first step isn’t confession our brokenness, it is realizing that we are broken. And for many of us, that realization continues into our new life. We, like Paul, grasp how life is supposed to be – we are supposed to be whole, saintly people, dedicated to God and to doing his work. Aren’t we all supposed to have our lives change as Christians. Why can’t i bring Jesus to people like Billy Graham, or pray and have devotions like St Francis, or serve the needy like Mother Theresa? Or be a preacher and writer like Luther? Why do I still have to deal with sin, my sin, as it assaults my thoughts, is found in my words, and gulp – is seen in my deeds, (or my lack of deeds)
I think we would be surprised to find out how human they were, that they too struggled with temptation and sin, that like the APOSTLE Paul – they had days where they cried out for Christ to return, to rescue them from this life. Think about Revelation’s description of saints,
12:11 They have triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word to which they bore witness, because even in the face of death they did not cling to life. Revelation 12:11 (NJB)
Been there somedays….not wanting to cling to life, not because of the people around me, for them I would gladly stick around, but because of my own brokenness, because of the fact that I know I don’t live the way I would desire to, knowing His love. When I forget and cry out as Paul did – who will rescue me from this body of death…..
Until a friend reminds me I have been rescued. Till I stand at an altar, and am given the Bread of Life, and drink of the Cup of Salvation. Till I hear those incredible words “your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit…AMEN!) The words that Paul rights after His cry of brokeness – in those words we find the answer
7:25 The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different. 8:1 With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. 2 A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.
Romans 7:25 -8:2 (MSG)
There is our answer !
Our brokenness has been dealt with!
We have been freed from it, healed of it.
We still will struggle – with our own brokenness, even more perhaps as we see people living broken lives, unaware that their cry has been heard, that the Lord has had mercy, that He has come… and will free them….and we not only get the joy of letting them know this – when they do hear – we get to see the weight lifted off of them… we get to share in their realizing His promise…
For we are a church, a people that find healing in Christ, while healing others heal….
Taking Sin Seriously…?
Devotional Question/Discussion point of the Day…. Do we…. do I take sin seriously?
It seems to be a trend in my life, and even more visible in society, that we take sin less seriously. Thankfully, it is beginning to bother me again, and maybe I haven’t been as lulled to sleep, or maybe I am beginning to wake up some.
There is a way in which we shouldn’t take sin seriously, because of the cross – it has already been dealt with – the sin, the shame, the little nagging feeling that “this is wrong”. Sin, no matter whether it is on the scope of someone being sentenced to serve their life in jail, or a junior high prank/theft, we shouldn’t take it so seriously that we can’t bring it to God, confess our sins and know, absolutely and without doubt that we are forgiven. That God would heal us, not only of the specific sin, but indeed the disease.
It is exactly because we aren’t healed in our eyes until we get to heaven, that we need to hear of that forgiveness often. Otherwise we lose heart, we think that it’s no big deal – and we begin to take being restored from that sin less than seriously.
And that is where we need to take it seriously – realizing that it cannot separate us from God, yet also realizing we need to deal with it, so it doesn’t. For the believer, this is a matter of realizing God is responsible for cleaning it up, has promised He would, and not letting our pride get in the way of it. Not easy! And I believe, that the more we do confess our sins, the more we ask God to comfort us and assure us of the forgiveness of them, the more we realize how wonderful He is….
And sin begins to break our hearts as it does His, the idea of people living in bondage to sin breaks our Hearts as it does His…. and we desires that they be freed, we desire that we are freed…. and healed.
Sin has little power, only the power we give it, only the mastery of us that we allow. We do need to take it seriously enough to take the cure of it seriously enough to realize that the forgiveness and healing is something wonderful something incredible, something so important that we adore the One who cares for us…
And realizing that… Paul’s words from Romans 6 come to mind…
6:1 What should we say then? Should we remain in sin so that grace may be given the more fully? 2 Out of the question! We have died to sin; how could we go on living in it?
Romans 6:1-2 (NJB)
This day, Lord Jesus, help us to realize the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, cleansing our lives, setting them apart to serve You, guiding us and strengthening us. Help us be so aware of your presence and work in our lives, that we adoringly join You in that work in others. AMEN.
A Challenge to my faith
Discussion Thought of the Day
“You have never felt so absolutely free as you do now that your freedom is interwoven with love and detachment, with security and insecurity; for you do not trust yourself at all, but trust in God for everything.” Escriva, Josemaria: Furrow
In many ways, I don’t feel so free. Too many things demand my attention, too many people need my attention. Too many crisis, too much that needs healing… and then household chores that have gone undone too long (still – 6 months later have a garage that needs to be unpacked and organized!) It is easy to let such things burden me, create guilt which will paralyze me even more. Freedom? Really?
Yeah – this morning I will know it… as the people of God gather, as I lose myself in playing music that helps people lose themselves in prayer and praise…there is freedom there… there will be freedom in sharing His word – that tells us of how He binds us together in our absolution, as He gives us a new mind – that is able to focus – not on what is temporary and passing… but instead in what is permanent.. eternal… with Him.
Escriva nails it – we find that freedom – not in being free of that which constrains us, but in our trust in a God who is present… in whose presence we presently dwell, even if it is only a hint of eternity. No matter the hellishness that surrounds us now… the Lord is with us!
Go in peace… even better – come – be gathered in that peace… with us!
