6-29-2021

 Good Morning All!

              1 John 1:9; “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

    Yom Kippur is the most important holiday/festival in the Jewish calendar.  More Jews attend Temple or synagogue services on that day than any other day.  It is a day when they celebrate God’s forgiveness of their sin.  The current theory of Jewish thought is that on this day you remember all your sins, confess all your sins, and make amends for all your sins.  They either have real good memories or feel they do not sin much.  How can you do that in one day?

    We teach that you should do this daily.  Luther writes about daily drowning the old Adam.  Yet the idea of confessing our sins is as old as the wilderness wanderings of the Jews with Moses.  The original Day of Atonement was a bloody day with animal sacrifices and blood thrown on the altar and the people and a confession of the nation to its sins against God.

       Today is a little different; the emphasis is on personal repentance for sins against others.  We too, should be penitent in our lives.  We sometimes get this confused.  We think we must repent in order to earn God’s forgiveness but that is not true.  God is faithful to forgive us even before we confess.  The Psalmist writes “I will remember their sin no more”.  Then why do we confess?

     Confessing our sins, repentance, is good for us and good for our soul.  Confessing is acknowledging those sins which we have committed.  We no longer try to hide them from God and others.  By recognizing our sins, we can receive and experience God’s forgiveness of sins, my sins.  This then should cause within us a desire to make amends for our sins.  Zacchaeus went and paid back four times what he cheated others out of.  We can begin by speaking to the person that we sinned against.  The unflattering remark we made, the unwillingness to help when we should, the envy we felt, the wrench we kept, the attempt to thwart their success, all these and many more are sins against our neighbor we should confess.

     We confess to get rid of sins because when we keep those sins the devil reminds us of our sins every day and rubs a little more salt in that wound trying to convince us that God cannot and will not forgive that sin.  By holding on to sin, we only make our journey more difficult and more painful.  But if we confess, God will forgive us and lead us to receive that forgiveness and then to finally forgive ourselves which can be the hardest part.  God’s love is beyond our comprehension, yet it is in our grasp.  God never lets go of us, we need only cling to him for salvation and hope.  Confession is good for the soul and not just one day of the year but every day of the year.

Dear Father, your mercies are new and boundless every day.  Forgive us our sins and lead us to confess our sins to our brothers and sisters that we may receive their forgiveness as well. Lead us to forgive those who sin against us and keep us all in harmony with you in your holy family.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret