Confession and healing

In the story of the Fall, the primal couple disregard God's warnings. They are persuaded take and enjoy forbidden fruit. They act freely, naturally without thought for the consequences. Only afterwards does it dawn on them for the first time, that they are exposed and vulnerable. They experience shame, cover their bodies, hide from sight. When found, they make excuses to mask their disobedience. It's a pattern of behaviour that replicates itself in ways more sophisticated than this tale suggests. We can recognise it in ourselves once we become aware things are not right in our lives and no longer feel comfortable with ourselves and our actions.

Awakening to awareness of self, learning how to integrate this into the way we think and act, is part of development from child to adult. It happens in different ways for each person. The original free will act is portrayed in the story as being made in ignorance and with disregard for the consequence. Thinking things through goes no further for them than the prospect of a little pleasure and the excitement of eating forbidden fruit.

When shame and guilt is awakened in us, the first impulse is denial, concealing what we feel. With this comes a sense of isolation and vulnerability, which can also be denied. This state is an obstacle to heartfelt prayer. Formal worship ritual continue routinely, but satisfaction from them wanes. Only when it becomes possible to admit what we feel and honestly expose it to God's compassion, can a genuine sense of release from the burden be experienced.

'My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; And You forgave the guilt of my sin.' (Psalm 32:5)

'If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.' (1 John 1:9)

The scriptures contain strong examples of penitential prayers voicing the feelings associated with guilt and shame. Remarkable about some of them is the way the contain reflection on the past, explorations of how and what went wrong in life, to lead to the present intolerable condition. Analysis of causes and effects makes learning possible, and opens the way to restoration and healing. Restoring a person to a right and healthy relationship with themselves, God and others requires this therapeutic analysis. 

Understanding the failures and weaknesses of past generations, does not provide an excuse for present misbehaviour, only a way of identifying and understanding inherited tendencies, in an effort to learn how to avoid repeating old errors. It is important to acknowledge both personal responsibility for sin and one's part in 'social sin', in seeking to make a new start, in the light of a different self-understanding. Hence - 

'We acknowledge our wickedness Lord, and the guilt of our ancestors; we have indeed sinned against you.' (Jeremiah 14:20)

'But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors--their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me ... I will remember my covenant with Jacob, my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.' (Lev 26:40 & 42)

Over centuries the church has offered the sacrament of Absolution, involving confession and spiritual direction to the world. Essentially, it is conversation as a healing art. Modern psychological medicine has taken and systematised this, separating it from relationship to God. The fruitfulness of scientific method in healing people is the criterion by which it may be judged. The church believes that reconciliation with God is an essential dimension of true health and fullness of life.

'Have mercy on me, Lord; heal me, for I have sinned against you.' (Psalm 41:4)

All are mortal

Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, takes its name from the brief ceremony during the Eucharist of the day in which worshippers are marked on the forehead with ash, prepared traditionally by burning palm leaf crosses retained from last year's Palm Sunday Eucharist. 

"Remember that you are but dust. From dust you came and to dust you will return." says the priest to each person, quoting Genesis 3:19. The story of the Fall gives an account of all the world's woes and misfortunes as an outcome of the disobedience of the primal couple Adam and Eve. They are told "You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die." (Genesis 2:17)

Before acquiring knowledge, the couple are innocently unconscious of the passage of time and that endings follow beginnings. The moment comes when they learn they are creatures, made of the same basic material as everything else in the universe and sharing the same ultimate destiny. Only God is over and beyond the material universe, not dependent upon it to exist, free of all material contraints. Human beings play at pretending there are no limits, but even if ageing can be deferred a while, mortality cannot be escaped and must be reckoned with.

The primal couple feel shame at being found out in defiance of their creator, and experience vulnerability and fear at the unknown prospect of death. These feelings are part of passing from infancy to adulthood shared by humankind. They can act as driving forces for human action, for good or for ill.

The Lenten journey is taken in the light of divine forgiveness. It can enable us to deal with the painful sense of shame, vulnerability and mortal fear, not by avoidance, but by learning what they have to tell us about ourselves in relation to God.

The imposition of ashes challenges any illusions we may have about our human capabilities, but it is not the final word. Rather it is the first serious word in the process of coming to our senses and responding to God's appeal to return to him. Sure, humans are not immortal, but being reconciled to God opens a way to life in and with him that is abundant and eternal, which mortality cannot take away. 'Turn from your sin and be reconciled with God' is the appeal to conscience and free spirit accompanying this reminder of mortality.

Two of the three readings in the Liturgy of this day remind us that we are not playing a game with God, by asking for forgiveness after expressing sorrow for the offence we have given others, unless we change our ways, and renounce the attitudes and actions that lead us into sin. We cannot do this unaided. Admitting our need to God in penitential prayer invites him to heal us from the inner depths of our being.

We can make the words of scripture our own in crying for help. Repeated slowly, often, and with feeling, they can anchor us in humility as we reach out and seek the source of our being.

'O God make speed to save us, O Lord make haste to help us' (Psalm 40:13)
'Make me a clean heart O God, and renew a right spirit within me' (Psalm 51:10)
'God have mercy upon me a sinner"  (Luke 8:13)
'Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief' (Mark 9:24)
'Lord to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life' (John 6:68)