Roots 6: Confession and guidance

Holy Trinity Church Huddersfield, Sunday 24 February 2019

I love my church.

Another day percussioning in church today, there was something going on over at the university and our student/musicians were not available for the Friday evening rehearsal. I was asked to play today.

At the end of the service we, the worship band, were approached to be told that we had blessed many people today. It’s always good to feel appreciated. I love my church.

As well as the usual instruments I played my bodhran, as the sound of the flute gave two songs a Celtic flavour. It worked well.

The sermon started with the late winter sun streaming through the south windows, some sat near the windows were shielding their eyes. Light is good, we were told, but light can dazzle. Light shows us the way to go, but also shows up bad things, like potholes in the road. That was a prologue before we got to the definitions: Confession is about putting ourselves where God can get at us; Guidance is a reality in the life of a Christian. What enables us to be vulnerable enough to confess our sins is fellowship, the church is not for “goody two shoes” people, we do not have to be perfect to go to church. We are already saints.

We are saints because we are called by God to do something holy and not because we are already holy. God makes us holy but we need a constant stream of grace. We are both saints and sinners at the same time.

When John talks about confession, the reading was from 1John 1:1 – 2:1, he does not talk about us but about God. God is light. God is faithful. God’s reaction to our sin is not anger but love. It was while we were still sinners that Christ died. The good news is that we are all I’ll but God wants us to be well.

There has to be repentance in the church before it can be effective. Honesty leads to confession, confession leads to change.

We need each other in church. We are each a sacrament to our brothers and sisters in the congregation of the presence of Jesus. God has given us other people for our guidance. Confession makes fellowship possible, lack of confession causes problems. Confession is made possible by deep community with each other, being a church which can embrace its frailty. We are to be weak and vulnerable to each other.

May we be a church that is honest to God and honest with each other.fellowship,