Sin, Confession, and Mercy (11-29-2020)

Sin, Confession, and Mercy 11-29-30 My beginning Scripture is Daniel 9:16 "...Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us." How many times have you sinned? Could you count them? I couldn't count my sins. I am just as imperfect as I am old. How many times has our nation sinned? Talk about impossible to count! Well, in the ninth chapter of his book, over and over and over again Daniel confesses Israel's sins to his God. And over and over again he begs for God's mercy. I had been thinking about this chapter for a while and wondering what I would say about it. Then one day last week I woke up with the answer. A lesson of the chapter became obvious: confession. It's a matter of fact the whole Bible is just packed full of instances in which sin is confessed. It is one of the things that makes this book so believable. Have you ever thought about that? Think of all the books that have been written over human history. I'm not sure there is one single book that stands out - in terms of the sheer number of confessions - more than the Bible. I suppose one could make the argument that it is a book of confessions. You know, I couldn't even count the number of my own confessions, much less my sins. It might seem strange to hear this, but I think the Bible is the most beautiful book ever written in terms of its humanity. What is more human than sin? What is more beautiful than the confession of sin? What is more stunning than the number of times humans have repented and felt remorse for their moral error? It is a uniquely beautiful aspect of humanity. It requires one to surrender ego, ego being the biggest outstanding example of human beings' fallen nature. Such a surrender, such an act of humility takes a lot of grace and it seems so contrary to our nature. And yet the Bible is replete with pleas for humans to repent. That is another thing that makes the Bible such a unique and magnificent book. So, here you have it: three of the biggest topics of religion and religious writing: sin, confession, and mercy. Add to that: forgiveness and you have a rather outstanding picture of what it means to be human AND what it says about the nature of God. In a ten or fifteen minute devotional, I couldn't begin to plumb the depths of these subjects. So instead, I will be content to just touch briefly on these themes. But I will even be more bold and try to explore one additional idea that might be grouped with these themes. Please stay with me. This devotional is about to wade into deep waters. I knew a woman who was German and she confessed to me that she felt guilty, that she felt responsible for the holocaust, for the German killing of 6 million Jews. I told her that she had not killed them, so she shouldn't feel responsible. With a great sadness in her face she said, "But my people did, and I am German." That conversation happened more than thirty years ago, yet I remember it as if it happened yesterday. That brief exchange with that woman has haunted me to this day. And then I read the ninth chapter of Daniel in which he includes himself in the "we" for whom he is begging for God's mercy. He had been an upright and righteous man yet he speaks of "our sins and the iniquities of our fathers..." As I read this I said to myself: "But Daniel why do you confess this as your sin?" I think there was something noble about Daniel's confession. But it raised a question in my mind. Do we have any responsibility at all for the sins of our community or nation? If we accept that this church is a moral entity, a community that represents a certain idea of morality and righteousness, if we stand up and stand out as community who believes in and follows the morality set forth by Jesus Christ, to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves, then we gladly accept praise for being good Christians, do we not? It would not be awful if we were proud of our church and its members who love each other and show our love for and attachment to our community. If this is so, should we not also accept some sort of responsibility for any instances in which we do not follow Christ's morality, in which we violate his commandment to love God and our neighbor as ourselves? I know of churches that are embarrassed about their leaders who stray from the Christian path by their immoral behavior, especially if this immorality becomes a pattern in the church. We would expect group members to be somewhat ashamed of being part of a church in which this occurs. They certainly shouldn't be proud of it. You could look at it in a broader sense at the national level. I am an American and I am ashamed of our history of slavery and discrimination against African Americans. If I were talking to someone from another nation, I think I would be within my rights to be embarrassed about these sins and transgressions of my fellow Americans over the centuries. Much of this material is based on this article: https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1034&context=theses However, that does not mean that members of a church or a society are individually guilty of or responsible for the sins of their leaders or other members of their church or nation... unless, of course, they themselves have committed these sins or contributed to them by their behavior. This whole issue of shared responsibility for group sin is a difficult ethical and moral dilemma. But I would say that the German women I spoke of earlier is not wrong for her sense of responsibility for the past sins of her nation. In fact I think it is beneficial for her nation or for ours, for that matter, to be aware of the mistakes of the past so that those same mistakes are not made again. Shame is not always a bad thing. In fact we condemn a abusive man for being shameLESS about a history of abuse or neglect, do we not? So I say to Daniel, God bless you for confessing the sins of your nation, for admitting that you were part of that nation and perhaps in some way, you shared responsibility for their sins. That shows me your humility and your strong sense of morality. God bless you, Daniel, for seeking God's mercy, for believing that God, one more time, is willing to forgive your people. Prayer Father, forgive me for any way, direct or indirect, that I have contributed to the sins of my nation, my family, or my community. I repent of those sins and again turn back toward you and beg for your mercy. Thank, you Father for the grace you have poured out upon us, thank you for our people who have plugged into that grace again and again and again and have chosen to follow your commandments, who chose to love and to live lives of compassion and not hate. I pray these things in the name of your son, our precious savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.