The Healing Balm of Confessionনমুনা

I love the story of the prodigal son. I believe that it can teach us much about what we can do to make our way home on this issue of unity in the Church. Most of us, I am sure, are familiar with this parable of a son who was itching to get his inheritance and get out from under the strict rules in his father’s home. When this wayward son demanded his inheritance from his father and walked away from his home and his responsibilities, he rejected the standards that his father had set for him. He set his own standard for what was right and good and wasted his resources on selfish living. He learned soon enough that the Enemy had fooled him and all that glittered was not gold. And finally, when all of his wealth and possessions were gone, he came to himself and realized that the path he was traveling was wrong; it was self-destructive.

In many ways, we can say this of the church. We walked away from the standard that our Father set for the church, and yes, we have wasted our resources on selfish endeavors. We have set many standards for what is right and good. Our standards are often bigger buildings, more people in the pews, more programs, and more money in our capital budgets. And the record is that the church in America is dying. According to The American Church Research Project, “between 1990 and 2009 more than 56 million people were added to the US census (56,819,471);” however, “during the same 20-year span only 446,540 people became active members of a local church; less than 1%.” By anyone’s standards, that’s a church in decline.

We have sacrificed faithfulness and humility at the altar of celebrity and power. For us to return to the Father and receive the healing balm of forgiveness, we need to learn again how to confess our sins.