Spiritually Aware
During a season of prayer and fasting, it is good for us to examine our lives. There are many things for which to rejoice and give thanks. We may also recognize points of need where we are hurting physically, emotionally, or in our spiritual health. Even if you have struggled to make time to pray or have a general lack of spiritual desire, that is in itself a helpful insight. There always needs to be some level of “holy discontent” and remorse for those things in our life that displease God, hurt our relationships, and darken our soul. If that awareness awakens us to confess and lament these things in prayer, that can be a first step to allow the grace of Christ to begin a healing work in our heart.
With Others
This is true not only for ourselves as individuals, but also corporately with others. What is the state of my family, people, and my nation. Again we can identify areas of brokenness and hurt, sorrow and suffering. At this level we know that the state of things is the complex result of decisions and actions taken by many individuals, groups and even nations, both present and in the past. What is to be our response to hurts and injustices that go beyond any one individual and are baked into cultures and institutions over generations?
A Confessing Nation
Is it necessary or even possible that I, as an individual, can confess the sin of a whole group of people of which I am just a member? Or confessing the sin of people who lived in the past? You may think, surely I only need to admit the sins that I commit on my own, and not the sins of others. The Bible, however, says otherwise. Notice the prayer of Nehemiah when he hears of the state of his people living far away in Jerusalem during the time of the exile. He prays,
“ I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you”
Nehemiah 1:16
Notice how he doesn’t exclude himself, but he also confesses the sins of his family and past generations. He identifies himself as being connected to his people and past. It moves him to a season of personal fasting and prayer. Eventually, in chapter 9 Nehemiah leads the whole nation in fasting and praying together as they confess the sins of their ancestors that resulted in their present suffering.
Connecting the Dots
Earlier in the book of Leviticus God gave this command,
“But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors … Then I will remember my covenant with them.”
Leviticus 26:40-42
These verses help to connect the dots. The suffering of exiles in a foreign land was the result of the sins of both their ancestors and the present generation living with the consequences of the past. The only way forward requires confession as a group – to acknowledge the reality of their sin past and present.
Past and Present
Too often people think of history as being something only of “the past” that is somehow separate and disconnected to present realities, like exhibits behind glass in a museum. The good and the bad that we experience today, however, are part of an ongoing story bound and connected to the past. My personal choices and actions definitely have a huge impact on my personal outcomes, but I was not born with a blank canvas to create on and the playing field is not level.
Born into a Story
We each were born into an ongoing story with a wide disparity of resources and opportunities. We are all part of a wider culture and participants in shaping imperfect economic and social systems. They were created and shaped by people like me – my people and my ancestors. People who fall short of the glory of God.
To Acknowledge
Confessing is to acknowledge something is true. Confessing in this sense does not always mean taking on personal responsibility or personal guilt, unless it is for my personal sin. God does not hold me personally responsible for the sins of a previous generation. Even so, when we join together as a whole group, we are to confess, admit, and learn from the sins of previous generations, especially in terms of how they contribute to the brokenness of today and how the past may still shape our thinking as a group today.
What Confession Can Do
As a missionary in Asia, I saw the power of a group of Japanese pastors who sought forgiveness from a group of Filipino pastors. They spoke on behalf of their nation for the sorrow and suffering that a former generation of Japanese inflicted on people in the Philippines during World War II. It brought tears to the eyes of people on both sides, because the truth is that those hurts of the past continued to plague the relationship between them in the present as a result of ongoing resentment and lack of trust between the two groups.
When we reflect on the history of these United States it is one of both cause for rejoicing and praise, as well for grief and lament. It is our history that has brought us to the place where we are at today as a nation. Will we continue to progress in becoming a righeous and more just society? Will we move from being a divided poloarized society judging one another to being one of unity, empathy and peace? If reflection on past injustices is considered disloyal, or if in our hyper-indvidualism we are callous to what those before us have done, confession and lament will be impossible. And without confession, mercy, grace, and reconciliation will also remain out of reach.
The Good News
The good news of Christ is that there is a path for reconciliation and restoration to life as God intended it to be. God is reconciling people of all nations in Christ. Let us then allow his light to shine in our hearts, to awaken our conscience, and to give us empathy for others. Let us not be afraid to lament and to confess the sins of the past and present as a people. For this act of humility is the first step in the way of peace that leads to reconciliation and hope in Christ.
