Prayer of Confession: Communal Personal Responsibility
If you grew up in a liturgical church, you know the Prayer of Confession. It is a prayer said near the beginning of worship, that invites the congregation to confess their sins, re-align themselves with Spirit’s heart, and thereby receive forgiveness and grace.
I did not grow up in such a church tradition. It was not until after seminary that I came across the Prayer of Confession in worship. I struggled with it. Why are we putting attention on our guilt in the middle of worship? I was experiencing this prayer as inviting me to feel bad, negative about myself. I did not like it. I did not like writing them. I did not like having them in the worship service. Whenever I could, I would switch worship from Prayer of Confession to Affirmations of Faith (liturgical way to affirm what we believe).
Then, I began to dive into the spiritual practice of personal responsibility. The more I looked in that mirror of my soul, acknowledging my responsibility for what is happening in my life, the more I began to see the importance of the Prayer of Confession.
The Prayer of Confession offers us an opportunity to take personal and communal responsibility for our individual and cooperative actions in the world. It invites us to remember that we have responsibility for the injustices in the world. Somehow, our actions or inactions are contributing to the injustices that we see, from racism and homophobia to poverty to immigrant injustices.
It reminds us that we have the power and responsibility to transform these injustices. As Micah 6:8 states, “God has told you what is good. What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with our God.” (NRSV) As citizens of this world, we must step up and do the work to create God’s Realm of Compassion here on Earth. We cannot sit back quietly and allow others to do the work. We can no longer put the blame for the lack of justice out there on someone else.
We have a voice. We have a vote. We have a responsibility to create for the greater good of our neighbors, the world, and the Earth.
At this current moment in my life it continues to be hard to be an American citizen. Each morning I awaken to greater and greater injustices. It would be easy for me to say, “Well it is not my fault. It is the fault of the Christian Nationalists.” I could create numerous excuses to put the responsibility of what is happening in our country out there, pushing it away from me.
Personal responsibility and the Prayer of Confession asks me not to. They are inviting me to acknowledge that I am part of these injustices if I am not working to bring an end to them. Transformational Prayers of Confession invite the spiritual community to acknowledge their part in the injustice, while at the same time, step into the hope that through partnership with Spirit we can and will transform injustice into a Just Compassionate World.
Prayers of Confession are indeed followed by assurance of grace. Sure we missed the mark this week. Sure we did not raise up our voices as we could have. Sure we have remained silent in the face of that specific injustice. However, because of God’s transforming merciful Heart we are forgiven and invited to recommit ourselves to the work of justice, grace, mercy, compassion.
It is a powerful moment in which we are invited to experience the unconditional Love and Power of a Just God.
