Sermon – We Do Have Something to Say

Psalm 32; Romans 10:6-13

Farmville Presbyterian Church

9/28/25

 

When I was in college, my father worked in France for a year, and I was able to go visit him over there for a week.  It was an eye-opening experience.  That was probably my first time out of the country.  Since then, I have been able to visit at least 16 more countries out there in the world.  It is truly remarkable to experience a different country and culture.  On that France trip, though, we had to see Paris.  And we had to see Notre Dame while there.  When we arrived there, it was toward the close of the day, and the light was dimming as we entered the world-renowned cathedral.  There was the music of someone singing deep inside.  It was ethereal and mystical, and I became lost in the beauty of it all.  Before I knew it, my feet were wandering toward what I surmised was a confessional.  I didn’t know what I was doing.  I wasn’t Roman Catholic.  I was just lost in that moment and entranced by the practices of that ancient faith.  It was probably good that I caught myself, though, because I probably had a lot to confess, especially as I had never shared in confession before… or had I?

Surprise!  I love confession now more than ever, and I have been doing it for many years.  Yes, that sounds like an absurd thing to say.  Confession in the common parlance is generally about fessing up to your crimes, either with the police or the priest.  We have seen this play out on crime shows of every stripe.  Additionally, other programs with the word “Confession” in the title tend to be scandalous.  If I had labeled this sermon “True Confessions of a Preacher,” I might have gotten more than a few eyebrows to rise before I got going.  The word “confession” is laden with meaning in our culture, and it is most likely not a happy meaning for us.  If someone came to us looking for a confession, then we probably did something we shouldn’t have – or at least, that would be the perception.  In the end, I decided I did not need to stress anyone more than I had to with my sermon title, but confession is real, and it is at the heart of who we are and what we do as Presbyterians in the Reformed tradition.

Time for confession.  Confession is about being as open and honest as we can become.  At its heart is truth.  However, very rarely are we that open and honest with each other.  Few times in my life have I found that kind of radical honesty in a group, but a good one right here is the substance support group here on Thursdays.  Those dealing with the daily struggle of alcohol or drugs in the program are brutally honest about their failings, and it is refreshing.  In private conversations with people and in counseling, I do also get something of that radical honesty sometimes with folk, but people do not like to admit the darker places in our lives.  We do not like to fess up to how badly we have failed and how much we have hurt.  We don’t like to take seriously our part in the brokenness of the world around us.  We carry the legacy of sin, and that is really, really hard to shake.  No rug is that deep to brush it under; no history is that whitewashed to absolve the guilt we know.

When I look out over this group of good and pleasant and lovely people, no one looks like they are about to fall apart, but we are all a collection of sisters and brothers who have all been lost at some point in their lives.  I have heard churches called hospitals for sinners before, and I find that useful.  Each and every single one of us has shouldered the trouble of this world in powerlessness.  Each and every single one of us has felt the weight of meaninglessness and the emptiness of hopelessness.  Every single one of us has contemplated our mortality, and we have either accepted it or lived in denial.  We have all failed in significant ways and must live with the consequences.  This walk in life is no easy walk but littered with broken patches and potholes and diversions.  There are no do-overs.  We carry the pain, the heartache, and the loss of our walk.  And many of us have done our very best to keep that all locked away so that no one knows just how human we really are.

What if I told you that there was another option.  Ever since the very first human being found them stuck helplessly at death’s door but somehow survived, they were invited to rejoice.  Ever since the people of God found themselves in a desperate plight (and there were many) and discovered God’s salvation, they also were invited to rejoice.  Speak the wonder and love and redemption of God.  Confess to the world what God has done for you and how much you needed God’s help.  That is also confession – the good confession, our confession in Christ.

It is amazing, and it is grace.  I once was lost, but then I was found.  I was blind, but I regained my sight.  God gave life to these empty and dead bones.  God restored the wicked heart and remade it in a proper, loving form.  The ones who needed life were given life and voices to speak God’s glory.  This is confession.  For some, God literally saved our life from death and destruction.  For some, God freed us from the sin that could have swallowed us whole.  Even at our worst, God gave us a different path.  This is what we confess.

It might not be easy to confess.  Plenty of people think the prayer of confession is our bulletin is pointless.  Sure, it is often general – perhaps too general to be meaningful, but I do try to add that private confession time or use language that can apply to us all.  God has rescued us, and it is always worth noting the what and why.  It is always worth remembering that Jesus is our Savior.  No, it is not easy to confess because we have to admit what we have done wrong.  Plenty of people don’t believe in asking for forgiveness, especially people with big, fragile egos.  Yes, to confess we need to admit our failure, and that can make us vulnerable, but everything about the life of faith makes us vulnerable.  We are not the ones who are strong and smart and perfect and right and able.  That is God who does those things with us, through us, and even in spite of us.  That’s the point.

We even have an entire book about confessions as part of our church constitution.  It does not list all the failings we have had, but it does describe God’s greatness.  They were all written at times of great struggle and failing, however.  That was when they turned to God’s greatness.  Those faith statements are about their trust in God when trust in ourselves failed.  We have all sinned and fallen short the glory of God.  We have all reached the crossroads and had to decide who is going be our savior.  We have all hit that wall and had to reckon how can I take another step.

I confess that it is not by any goodness that I possess that I am here today.  Any grace that I have received is just that – grace.  This community needs people who are willing to make a good confession.  We need people who know what God has done and are willing to speak it.  There is a dangerous façade about churches and church-goers that we are with-it and do not have problems and have our stuff together.  No one who needs a hospital for sinners, where they can be loved and share in God’s grace, is ever going to go anywhere where the lips are seals and tongues are silent.  You heard the desperate plight of the psalmist in Psalm 32.  There is a reason why we have that kind of witness in the Bible.  We have something to confess, if we are willing to speak.

To God be the glory.  Amen.