A Baptism of Repentance
by Denise Morris on 08/10/2007 at 3:00 PM
We published a TrueU article yesterday called "A Baptism of Repentance," about public confession and the Jewish tradition of mikvah. The author, Lindy Keffer, talks about her own experience with confessing her sin to her husband, and then a trip to Israel that taught her about the importance of a repentance that is communal.
While in Israel, Lindy learned that mikvah is ritual washing done by Jews to rid themselves of ceremonial uncleanness. Being "unclean" does not necessarily mean you did something wrong -- you become unclean for a variety of reasons: preparing a body for burial, menstruating, touching an unclean object, and so on. But, it can also mean more than that:
After learning about all these reasons Jews wash in the mikvah, we find out there's one more: repentance. This grabs me in a big way, especially because of what we do next. Since total immersion isn't very practical for us as a tour group, we learn an alternate way to practice mikvah for repentance: splashing water on our heads, hearts, hands and feet. By doing so, we symbolically ask forgiveness for the sins of our thoughts, desires, actions and habits.
Lindy tells the story of one of the guys in her tour group opening up to everyone and admitting sin in his life. He confesses to God and his friends, and he then does mikvah:
I stand there amazed. Because the mikvah has been a daily part of the life of religious Jews for thousands of years, they have a regular reminder to examine their lives for sin. And they have a regular way to symbolically and publicly say, "I need God's forgiveness." Unlike us. We Christians are missing out on so much because we don't regularly confess our sins. Out loud. To each other. James tells us to do it: "Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed." David shares how pent-up sin damages us: "When I kept silent, my bones wasted away, through my groaning all day long." But somehow, we find excuses for not confessing.
The article points out that confession to others is biblical and may draw us closer together as Christian community. If we were to really share with one another what we struggle with, we would experience honesty and better accountability:
What if we Christians made confession a regular practice? Not just confessing to a priest in a booth (if that's your tradition), but telling the people closest to you about the sins you struggle with? I'm pretty sure if we did, our communities would grow and individuals would be healed — both physically and emotionally. Those who don't yet believe would have a much better idea of what it means to need God's grace and forgiveness.
What do you think? Do you have regular accountability in your life? What do you think of the tradition of mikvah -- something to symbolically remind us of how God's grace has made us clean?
1. Anna said the following at 4:04 PM on Aug 10:
I think I am pretty accountable to a couple of my closest friends, but I don't really feel as much of a sense of responsibility to accountability as I think I should. I just do it when I feel like it, pretty much. In today's context, when I hear the word "accountability group," I usually think of a group of men who are trying to stay pure by being accountable with each other, because that's the context it's usually used in. That should be so far from the truth. Accountability should be a major part of community in the church, but the sad thing is, it's just not. This is something I need to work on in my own life, that's for sure.
2. Tami said the following at 4:20 PM on Aug 10:
In the last few days, I've noticed a steady stream of posts that remind us of the essential community nature of Christianity. Excellent!
Done in a spirit of love and honesty, confession is one of the most freeing aspects of fellowship.
I might add, it takes discernment to find the right person to confess to...
For those interested in some practicalities on how to confess to another -- and how to receive someone's confession -- I suggest Richard Foster's "Celebration of Discipline," which has a helpful chapter on that topic.
3. Elaine said the following at 5:15 PM on Aug 10:
I think the idea of Christians confessing to each other their sins is fine as long as the MOTIVE is right. But the big problem I've seen in many churches is that we don't forgive people or we reject, shun, or even attack them when they do take the courage and confess the sins they struggle with. While I am not talking about condoning sin, I do believe the biggest problem is that we somehow still, even in the church, have some sort of standard of what sins should be confessed to those closest to us and which ones shouldn't.
4. M-UH said the following at 9:03 PM on Aug 10:
I loved this article! It really spoke to me where I am currently in my faith. I was struggling with how to take the "next step" in my faith. Openly discussing my troubles with another Christian will make God's influence in my life more evident. Thanks for a great article!
5. Jacob said the following at 9:41 PM on Aug 10:
>> Does Piper have an article or sermon online, about his views on children? <<
John Piper's does have an article on birth control here. It also mentions the ideas of the full quiver movement. A brief excerpt:
Incidentally, "J" names are great! I do hope they have middle names though. Being one of 17 J.D.s would be very strange.
6. Eliana said the following at 10:37 PM on Aug 10:
I wholeheartedly agree, which is why I love how we, as Catholics, have the sacramental gift of Confession. In the early days of the Church, public confession and penance was common. <http://www.catholic.com/library/Confession.asp> Nowadays, we get to do it more privately, but there's nothing wrong with confession to fellow-Christians, and it does help with accountability.
7. Amy said the following at 9:40 PM on Aug 11:
I have pretty regular accountability with a close friend, and also other women in my care group. It is freeing in some ways, but in other ways, it often leaves me feeling very vulnerable. It serves me because people are aware of what I struggle with and ask many questions to draw me out during times of confession and even times when they observe behaviors that match previous sin patterns. It's never an easy thing- sharing struggles and sins- but I think if we learn to pour out grace to one another, it reminds us of God's merciful kindness. When we aren't aware of His grace, it is easy to succumb to condemnation, making it harder to want to confess in the future, especially if we feel another Christian's condemnation and discouragement towards us in our sinfulness.
8. Leah said the following at 9:23 AM on Aug 12:
Catholics do confession and get shot down for it. (And rightly so).
9. Melody said the following at 10:24 PM on Aug 12:
I like the idea.
Christians do have a tradition of vocal confessions of sins. Catholics do it.
Isn't that also what Holy Water is all about? To remind us of God's grace making us clean? I don't know because they never talked about it in my [Catholic] high school.
10. Denise Morris said the following at 10:11 AM on Aug 13:
Leah, would you be willing to explain your comment?
11. SB said the following at 10:57 AM on Aug 13:
It seems most "confession" is using past experiences as examples. My Sunday school class (a young couples class) recently went through Every Man's Battle, and our teachers were very open - about things that happened 10 years ago. Everything was shared with the attitude, "Of course I would never do/say/think that now." It was very frustrating. For some reason confession is only OK if it is "testimony."
12. Lucie said the following at 2:16 PM on Aug 13:
Confession is all well and good, but unless the behavior being confessed actually changes...
I once read that almost every (or perhaps it was every) accountability group had at least one member that confessed continually to the same sin, week after week, without ever seeming to take real steps to overcome it.
In addition, there is also the delicate matter of privacy. How much should actually be shared?
13. k. said the following at 3:17 PM on Aug 13:
I've loved the idea of mikvah ever since I read an article on it years ago...sometimes I wish we had an equivalent tradition. I have a couple of close friends who are accountability partners, but sometimes the fact that they ARE friends can influence how they say things.
I'm also not sure what Leah means by Catholics getting shot down for confession, and "rightly so."
14. KB said the following at 11:28 AM on Aug 20:
Is privacy an issue? ...I know it is an issue, but should it be an issue in the church, if the church is functioning as it should..without gossip or back biting going on?
I grew up in a family that highly valued privacy, especially as concerned "family matters," but it seems that those matters never were dealt with until they had been made public. Only after deprivatization did the matters begin to be made right. Sometimes exposure is necessary, otherwise the thing turns into something dark and shameful. grace is more fully realized when our sin is exposed, and confessed, for what it really is.