Great is the mystery of faith 3: We have erred and strayed...

Our Archdeacon of Cleveland quotes a good wind-up question in his book – the mystery of faith:  What’s that prayer you Anglicans have about being miserable?  Or as I used to say as a child – why is everyone so miserable in church?

Can you answer the question? – you might if you’ve been coming to church more than 40 years, or go to services where they have the old prayer book:  In the confession it says

But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us miserable offenders; Spare thou them, O God, which confess their faults, Restore thou them that are penitent...

Not just miserable then, but offenders too!   The 1662 prayer book doesn’t mince its words. 

But all our services include a confession.  The words might vary, but it’s such an important part of the service, that it has to be included each time we worship together. 

Why?

Well in answer to this, our lectionary readings this week couldn’t be more appropriate.  Whenever we hear these words from our Gospel –they act as a wake-up call. 

Woops.

However hard we try, we know we fail to love God with our whole heart, soul mind and strength, and we fail to love our neighbour as ourselves – all the time.  However hard we try, we cannot live by those two golden rules. 

So, all we can say is: 
Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we have sinned against you and against our neighbour

And of course, our OT reading, and the ten commandments shows us more specifically how we fail.  And this failure is sin.

We used to learn the catechism – the 7 deadly sins – arrogant pride, greed, envy, lust, anger, gluttony, sloth. Confession included bringing a list to God – all the things we’d noticed where we’d failed to live up to God’s standards.  The danger with thinking of confession in this way, is of course, when you’ve confessed, that’s it, your copy book is wiped clean, (or in modern terms - God has pressed the delete button) You are free to carry on life as normal, knowing that next week, you can be forgiven afresh.  We could call this sin with a small s – not because their unimportant, but they are only the symptoms of an underlying illness.  When we are ill, we might take pain killers in order to function properly.  The pain killers don’t take away the problem, they merely mask it. Confession of this kind does not deal with the underlying issue.  

Sin with a capital S is really about a broken relationship with God.  It’s not just about what we do wrong.  It’s about our habits of thought, our outlook and our attitude.   It’s about the brokenness of our lives.  We have sinned... in thought and word and deed, 
through negligence, through weakness, through our own deliberate fault.

The 1662 confession helps us to get a clue about what Sin with a Capital S is really about.  It uses the analogy of sheep: 

We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep, We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts,

Sheep, of course, in Jesus’ time, and indeed, in the Middle East today, follow the shepherd along a path – those that didn’t, would get into a mess – the parable of the lost sheep tells the story of one such sheep – the shepherd leaves the 99 good sheep to find the one who is lost is a story about how God comes looking for sinner who has strayed.

In children’s story books of the lost sheep – it picks up the following the devices and desires of our own hearts – as the sheep wanders off to find the greener grass, play with new friends, see the pretty flowers – whatever it is! 

What is it that distracts us? Planning and following our hearts is not necessarily a bad thing in itself – if you’re a sheep greener grass is more nutritious –– but if we follow these too much, without taking into account what God wants, it’s then we get into a mess.  And when we get distracted, that’s when we tend to ‘leave undone those things which we ought to have done, And we have done those things which we ought not to have done’,

Another way of describing sin is missing the target. (my only attempts at darts left me very excited if I actually hit the board!)  I was quickly removed from playing for fears to the safety of my companions....

Good darts players keep focussed, eyes front, gauging the distance, the weight of the dart,  etc, before they throw.  Keeping focussed on God means ensuring that we hit the target, which is living a holy life.

Without that – there is no health in us.  In other words, the painkillers don’t work – we need radical help, something that deals with the root of our problem. 

Health in the old prayer book doesn’t just mean physical or mental health – it means wholeness -  when we sin, our whole being is messed up – body, mind and spirit.  The opposite is wholeness – or holiness.

The great thing about this prayer is that it’s honest about the human condition.  The drawback, is that it really slams us in the dock, pleading guilty.  This is an uncomfortable place to be, and that’s deliberate.  We don’t really get away with it in Common Worship, because it spells out clearly the processes through which we sin:  It’s not just what we do – it’s what we haven’t done, it’s our words, it’s even our thoughts, and it’s all our fault. 

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we have sinned against you and against our neighbour in thought and word and deed, through negligence, through weakness, through our own deliberate fault. 

Just as with the old prayer book, we are putting ourselves in the dock, and pleading guilty, but with that guilt, showing remorse and repentance. 
We are truly sorry and repent of all our sins. 

We have condemned ourselves.  All we can do, is plea for mercy, which the 1662 prayer book does very effectively:
 
But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us miserable offenders, Spare thou them, O God, which confess their faults, Restore thou them that are penitent, According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord:
 
Here’s the word miserable again! Well, we might be, but the word in the old English means needing mercy.   
   
Notice that the prayer contains a reminder to us, and to God of his promises.  What are these promises?
 
But just at the moment of condemnation, an advocate – speaking up on our behalf.  The price is paid.  A number of verses of scripture are quoted in the service book – words of comfort: 

Listen to them:
 
Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11.28
God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3.16
 
Hear what Saint Paul says: This saying is true, and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 1 Timothy 1.15
 
Hear what Saint John says: If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 2.1, 2 
 
In other words, by admitting our guilt, and turning away from our sin, and back to the way that God wants for us, we open ourselves up to receive forgiveness.  

Our guilt is taken away, and there is no condemnation. 

It is that simple.  And that difficult.  It cost Jesus his life to show us the way of freedom from sin.  It costs us our pride to admit we’ve blown it.  And there is a second reason why it’s difficult for us. 
  
Sometimes it’s hard to let go of the guilt.  We can forgive others, but we can’t forgive ourselves for something we’ve done that’s hurt
or damaged someone else.  This is tough.  But for Christians, we can bring that guilt to God – even if it is not possible to ask for forgiveness from the other person.  And God can free us of it.

And when we do that, it literally puts us back together again. Desmond Tutu calls it RE-membering – coming back into membership of the community –the body of Christ. 
 
Sin is about broken relationship. Receiving forgiveness is about restoration. 

Once we have asked forgiveness, we no longer need to feel guilty, but sometimes we carry it, because we find it hard to forgive ourselves.
 
And I think that is why the prayer of confession in church is always followed by the prayer of absolution – an assurance of God’s forgiveness. 
  
May almighty God, who forgives all those who truly repent, have mercy on you. Pardon and deliver you from all sin, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and keep you in life eternal. 
 
This is not about pressing a delete button.  That’s too simple.  This hunting out the lost sheep cost Jesus his life.  ‘I am the good shepherd, who gives his life for the sheep.’ A better modern analogy is that of a satnav. 

Sin is going off course.  The satnav tells us to ‘Repent’ (well, actually it says:  perform a U turn when possible’) 

Repent just means turn round – i.e. perform a U turn! And sometimes, if turning round is impossible, because we’ve gone too far in the direction of sin,  the Satnav will recalculate for us – and set us on the right track again.  That may mean going down a different route.  But the good news is that we will still reach our destination.
 
The same is true with God.  When circumstances are definitely NOT of God’s making – and there are many terrible things that happen in God’s world that I cannot believe are God’s will – then if we come to God, he will find a way through for us.  And as we will see next week, in our services for All Saintstide, the destination is amazing!