Confession, pt. II

Jesus taught us a parable:

"A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear." (Matthew 13:3-9)

Forgive us, God, for failing to listen. Forgive us for failing to create favorable conditions for the reception of the gospel. As J. Gresham Machen says,

though we preach with all the fervour of reformers, we will succeed only in winning a straggler here and there, if we permit the whole collective thought of the nation or of the world to be controlled by ideas which, by the resistless force of logic, prevent Christianity from being regarded as anything more than a harmless delusion.

Forgive us for letting our witness become, for so many people, a harmless delusion- at best.

Forgive us for stepping out of public discourse and failing to keep Christianity a real option for the careful thinkers in our society.

Confession, pt. I

Jesus told us,

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. ...let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:13-16)

Forgive us, God, for letting our saltiness become so distasteful to the world, and our light so dim.

Forgive us for calling ourselves by the name of Christ, until the word “Christian” calls up descriptions like “hypocritical, sheltered, judgmental, and insensitive.”

Forgive us when we care more about buildings and bank accounts and statistics than about preserving and restoring what’s good in creation and showing people the way to you.