Confession

Mary Virginia taught the women's spiritual disciplines class yesterday and the topic was confession. It was not a theme that the Brazilian women were used to hearing. Since, catholicism is so big here, the protestant churches try hard not to be like the catholics. And since the abuse of confessionals was one of the major issues that brought on the Protestant Reformation, evangelical churches here are still afraid to talk about confession in the church. Protestant churches in Salvador do not usually have an invitation at the end of the service where people can confess either Christ or their sins or both. Churches in this culture can easily be seen as being full of hipocrits - people trying to be perfect who never expose their own humanity. In fact most evangelical churches (if you're not catholic, they call you evangelical) in the area have lists of rules - things you can and cannot do as a Christian - everything from not shaving your legs to what you eat. Many come to our church asking what our rules are. One of our four identity points that we are teaching our members is that we want to be authentic people. Our church is a hospital for sinners. That the Bible teaches redemption is both an event (baptism) and a process (an ongoing relationship with God). That sin is not breaking one of the rules and not letting anyone know or even a moral or social wrong (although this can be a part of sin). Sin as the Hebrews understood it, is anything that hurts your relationship with God or others. When Jesus told us to love God above all else, and love our neighbor, He was showing us how to live a pure and righteous life here on earth in harmony with our Creator and all those around us. And as Christians when (because we will) we fall short of these two very important things, the first step is admitting it. The second is asking for the forgiveness that God is so ready to give us (1 John 1:9-10). This may need to be just to God but it often needs to be to a trusted brother or sister in Christ (James 5:16), an accountability partner, or perhaps the offended party. We need each other. We need prayers, strength, and support from each other. We need to go to God with and for each other. But always remember that we don't have to talk God into forgiving us, it is He who is working to make us ready to accept His forgiveness.