I recently asked a young Catholic friend, Claire, about her experience in a confessional. I admitted I thought it was a strange, unnecessary step in the process of spiritual reconciliation. We have unlimited access to Christ through his work on the cross, so why climb in a little booth and recount our sins to a human intercessor?
She looked at me with a knowing smile, her curly red hair framing her beautiful, pale features. She said something like, "I know people who didn't grow up with it think it's strange, but I think it's beautiful." She told me about her first confessional, where the priest came to her home and gentle encouraged her in the art of identifying sin. She explained how it helps her be conscious of and accountable for her sin, and how confessing it aloud frees her from guilt and reconnects her to Christ.
I can see the beauty of it now.
Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. James 5:16
I am learning to name my sin, to call overeating "gluttony" and impure thoughts "lust," and to discern the pride and idolatry that creep into my thoughts and actions, but I have a lot to learn about confession. I want to jump right into the pool of grace before taking the shower of confession.
While I don't intend to slip into a confessional booth, I am convinced that there is value in confessing sin in a safe community. I did this one day in my ladies' small group. I unleashed my tongue and my heart and took a chance to confess something raw and embarrassing. Behold, the power that Claire and the Book of James described manifested in my life! Beauty. Freedom. Healing.
Confession to one another celebrates the expiation of our sin and the sanctifying work of God through the cross of Christ (1 John 1:9). Confession to another Christian also guards us from absolving ourselves without true repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10). Bonhoeffer writes that God gives us certainty that we are dealing with the living God “through our brother” (116). from this excellent article: Confessing our Sins Together by John Piper
Lent teaches that if I want to draw near to God, I need to take sin seriously through earnest confession to God and to my brother.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We don't do individual confession so much, but we do corporate confession, and are encouraged to confess our sins to God directly. I agree though, that sometimes the way to truly name it is to share it with another person, to find that connection of grace in a real and tangible way. No penance required, but repentance declares we will find a way beyond the sin to a new path.
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