“May God who pardoned David through Nathan the prophet when he confessed his sins, and Peter weeping bitterly for his denial, and the sinful woman weeping at his feet, and the publican and the prodigal son, may that same God forgive you all things, through me a sinner, both in this world and in the world to come, and set you uncondemned before his terrible Judgement seat. Having no further care for the sins which you have confessed, depart in peace. “– the response of Orthodox priests after a confession
When talking about Confession, we either conjure up one of two images: either an awkward accountability group, or sitting in Confession box at a Catholic church. This is so unfortunate because Confession is a beautiful mystery. Sadly, our concept of Confession often places the emphasis on the process or the words by which we recant rather than the answer that we receive from the Spirit. Simply, it’s more about guilt trip than a response from God.
But confession wasn’t designed to work that way. The sacrament of confession was never meant to be about what we did, but rather an intimate moment when one comes crashing into the goodness of God. Confession is about the reaction of God to sin. It is a sweet moment when one feels the delight of the Lord and hears the whisper in his soul that says that everything that needed to be absolved has indeed “been finished.” All of our projections of divine anger, disappointment, and/or retribution are now gone and were, in reality, never there, but were illusionary at best. This moment is the passionate hug that welcomes the prodigal home which enlightens us to the reality that he never takes offense to our waywardness. He is simply happy that we are home for the party. He asks us no questions, and we are justified by no apology. The Father simply wants to administer the sacrament of the big bear hug and the sloppy-wet kiss. The mystery of this hug and kiss will take all of eternity to unravel, for with this one touch, he heals us and make us lie down in green pastures.
“But where sin increased, Grace increased all the more”
livingablaze 