I have a confession to make. 

I have a bright pink t-shirt that I wear to the gym quite regularly. On the T shirt, in large letters, it says: Do Justice, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly. I walk laps around the gym and in the back of my mind, I hope that others will see me wearing it, see the words, know that this is what I believe, a key part of what I believe to be true and important.

And then one day in the past week or so, probably because I was beginning to read and to work on this week’s sermon, it occurred to me that I was walking proudly around the gym, wearing the words “walk humbly”. I began to wonder whether my reason for wearing the t-shirt included some sense of pride that I was that kind of person, the type that would wear a t-shirt that said that. So humble. Wow…

This final chapter of Bonhoeffer’s classic book, Life Together, is entitled “Confession and Communion.”

In our scripture today, we heard words that are often used in liturgy for the call to confession: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

But to whom shall we confess our sins? As he did throughout the book, Dietrich Bonhoeffer connects this directly to the life together of the spiritual community. He calls us as the church to be safe space for one another, so that we can not only be open to ourselves about our own sins and shortcomings, but also to be willing to be open with one another about our shared humanity, our shared brokenness. To confess our sins to one another in spiritual community is to acknowledge our own humility, our own sinfulness, and to overcome our tendency to “act as if” we are good people because we go to church, we live decent lives, and we are at least as good (or maybe even better) than those who are not in the pews with us, and perhaps even those who are there with us.

In Bonhoeffer’s words, “Confession in the presence of a brother is the profoundest kind of humiliation.” And, of course, this is why we all shy away from doing so. But he goes on to say, “The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everybody must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship.”

So here in the PC(USA), we usually confess our sins directly to God, using collective prayer and silent confession.

But of course, God already knows our sin; to confess to God is in a way redundant, beyond acknowledging that we know our sin and are ready and willing to confess it. Alternatively, to confess to another in our spiritual community reflects a human willingness to see ourselves and show ourselves as broken, as in need of grace.

To be a true community of faith, according to Bonhoeffer, we are called to be a community in which we can acknowledge our own sin to one another, can hear the confession of sin from a sibling in faith, can forgive, can offer peace and reconciliation, whether the sin affected us directly or not.

If you are familiar with the twelve step programs used by Alcoholics Anonymous, or by Narcotics Anonymous, or other twelve step groups, you may know that there is a step 5 that calls participants to "Admit to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”

To God, to ourselves, and to another human being.

That may be a sponsor in the program, or a friend who is part of this particular spiritual community. 

So how does the church community, the body of Christ, open itself up as safe space to seek out a sibling in faith who will hear our confession and who will offer forgiveness and peace in the name of Jesus Christ? 

Can we be that community, that safe space, for one another?

How well do we truly know one another within our spiritual community? How willing are we to be humble enough to speak our sin out loud to one another, to acknowledge that we are no better than anyone else, that grace alone saves us, that Christ alone offers the forgiveness and peace that passes understanding, and that this forgiveness and peace comes from Christ through one another? How do we hear one another’s confession? In what spirit do we do this?

In Luke’s gospel, Jesus tells us “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven,” Bonhoeffer explains it further in this way. He says, “Why is it that it is often easier for us to confess our sins to God than to a spiritual [sibling]? God is holy and sinless, a just judge of evil and the enemy of all disobedience. But a brother [or sister] is sinful as we are. We know from our own experience the dark night of secret sin. Why should we not find it easier to go to a spiritual [sibling] than to the holy God? …. 

[he goes on to say] “Worldly wisdom knows what distress and weakness and failure are, but it does not know the godlessness of men. And so it also does not know that man is destroyed only by his sin and can be healed only by forgiveness. Only the Christian knows this. In the presence of a psychiatrist, I can only be a sick man; in the presence of a Christian brother, I can dare to be a sinner.”

Father Richard Rohr, an American Franciscan priest and writer, in his book entitled “Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps”, describes the experience of the fifth step in this way: “When human beings ‘admit’ to one another ’the exact nature of their wrongs’, we invariably have a human and humanizing encounter that deeply enriches both sides - and even changes lives - often forever! It’s no longer an exercise to achieve moral purity, or regain God’s love, but in fact a direct encounter with God’s love. It is not about punishing one side but liberating both sides.”

“Desmond Tutu’s ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ in South Africa after the fall of apartheid, where all had to take proper and public responsibility for their mistakes, was not for the sake of any punishment but for the sake of truth and healing. In fact, the healing was the baring (spelled b-a-r-i-n-g)- and the bearing (spelled b-e-a-r-i-n-g) - of the truth publicly.”

He goes on to say, “Ordinary people in times of shame and doubt needed a ‘soul friend’, or an anamchara (Celtic term).

When it comes to sin, we tend to think that the sequence is this:

Sin —> punishment —> repentance —> transformation

(Sin is followed by punishment, which leads to repentance and finally transformation)

But scripturally the sequence is actually this:

Sin —> unconditional love —> transformation —> repentance.

(Sin is met with unconditional love, which brings about transformation and frees us for repentance)

“What humanity needs is an honest exposure of the truth, and true accountability and responsibility for what has happened. Only then can human beings move ahead with dignity…Only mutual apology, healing, and forgiveness offer a sustainable future for humanity. Otherwise, we are controlled by the past, individually and corporately. We all need to apologize, and we all need to forgive, or this human project will surely self-destruct. No wonder that almost two-thirds of Jesus’ teaching is directly or indirectly about forgiveness. Otherwise, history winds down into the taking of sides, deep bitterness, and remembered hurts, plus the violence that inevitably follows. As others have said, ‘Forgiveness is to let go of our hope for a different or better past.’ It is what it is, and such acceptance leads to great freedom, as long as there is also accountability and healing in the process.”

“Nothing new happens without apology and forgiveness.

 It is the divine technology for the regeneration of every age and every situation. The ‘unbound’ ones are best prepared to unbind the rest of the world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ - In order for us to be a true spiritual community, we are called to open ourselves to one another; to confess our sins to a soul friend in Christ, and to listen to the confession of a soul friend in Christ. To take the log out of our own eye, rather than pointing out the speck in one another’s eye. To offer forgiveness in the name of Christ, and to offer the peace of Christ, which passes all understanding, and which is the only true reconciliation for the sins of the world. 

Let us open ourselves, let us seek and find and try and fail and learn to share our sinful selves with one another, in order to be a true spiritual community, in order to truly be in communion at the table with one another and with Christ, and in order to provide safe space for each of us and all of us to be who we truly are, here in this place and as we go out into the world to proclaim the Living Word. Amen.