My friend sent me this article from the New York Times entitled, “Intimate Confessions Pour Out on Church’s Website.” The article states:
About a month ago, LifeChurch, an evangelical network with nine locations and based in Edmond, Okla., set up mysecret.tv as a forum for people to confess anonymously on the Internet.
The LifeChurch founder, the Rev. Craig Groeschel, said that after 16 years in the ministry he knew that the smiles and eager handshakes that greeted him each week often masked a lot of pain. But the accounts of anguish and guilt that have poured into mysecret.tv have stunned him, Mr. Groeschel said, and affirmed his belief in the need for confession.
What the article didn’t state was how people were utilizing these confessions to actually get the healing that the pastor spoke of. James 5:16 says: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” I don’t think much healing can take place by simply getting sins “off your chest” by posting anonymously to a church bulletin board.
Instead, I have seen how confession to one another has been a powerful tool for healing. If a church is truly Gospel-centric, it should be a place where all of us dreadful sinners can come to one another even with the most terrible of sins and offenses and receive one another in grace. The Gospel is the power of God and I believe it can transform lives. But it is in the vulnerability and even the overcoming of shame in Christ that begins the process of healing. It is in the belief that our righteousness is not determined by what we appear to be before others. Our righteousness is in Christ alone and so therefore, I can never be too bad for others to accept me. And they can never take way my identity in Christ. I love those words IN CHRIST. They are our joy. And so to confess, not to a computer screen one’s sins, but to one another in person leads one to say that even if everyone knows the shame, Christ bore that shame on the cross, so now I am free. In this, there is true healing and a living hope (1 Peter 1).
Reminds me of the small group where, in an effort to develop transparency, the leader announced that there would be confession of secret sin. Several members opened up and shared their struggles. Things were going really great until one of the members announced his/her only transgression was gossip.
Posted by TimK | September 1, 2006, 2:17 pmI know, I know and that is where unless sins are confessed for the purpose of our healing in light of the glory of God and Christ’s fame, then even confession can turn into nothing more than a mere work itself.
I do believe we MUST be vulnerable before God’s people. I just think we really need to keep the focus in view.
Posted by admin | September 1, 2006, 2:21 pmSorry Sam, I meant my comment to be tongue-in-cheek. I agree with you, 1A!
Posted by TimK | September 1, 2006, 2:23 pm