Confession

Dear Friends in Christ -
I'm sure that many of you have noticed that this is the first blog post that I've managed to get up all week. Sorry about that.

My hope was to continue during the week following up with the spiritual discipline topic that I talked about in my sermon on Sunday - confession. But I wasn't disciplined enough this week to get that done. So now I have to confess that I fell short.

And I am sorry, particularly for the lost opportunities to connect around this important topic. Of course, now I have the chance to model for you what real confession leads to: repentance.

My confession is simply this: I didn't make writing my blog posts enough of a priority this week to get them done. One might reasonably argue that I've had a few other things to deal with this week - like the disaster in Haiti, like extra preparation for meeting with the Bishop for the last time with the Convocation that I chair. But the truth is that if I had been writing my blog posts on time or in advance there wouldn't be a 4-day gap, even when disaster strikes.

In order for confession to be effective, though, I can't just identify and admit what went wrong. I have to take the steps necessary to amend my fault. That means taking time to write to you today. That means putting it in my schedule to get future posts up on time - or early, if I'm going to be busy.

In his book "Celebration of Discipline," Richard Foster says this, "The discipline of confession brings an end to pretense. [Through confession, we] can openly confess [our] frail humanity and know the forgiving and empowering graces of Christ." What I experience as I type this to you is an unburdening, space in me being freed up to just get on with it.

Onward and upward!
Blessings,
Janet+