Reality and Healing

“Confession is good for the soul,” it is said. But this is one spiritual discipline that seems to have been largely lost in the church. The unfortunate reality is that whatever may be gnawing at us inside and chewing up our soul and psyche, we shove as far as possible into our unconscious, put on our Sunday best, and go to church. We participate in a general confession in which there may or may not be any time to actually reflect on the things that are truly eating us up, we hear an absolution which may or may not reach to the depths of our wounded spirits, and we go home to battle our demons alone.

Now, I’m not suggesting that you spill your guts to just anyone-we really do need to do much more work on creating safe space in our congregations-but maybe you could find just one person with whom you feel safe. Someone who would hear you, love you, pray for you, and be God’s graceful presence to you, or maybe you are being called to be that person for someone else. When darkness is shared, it lets in a crack of light, and the darkness can never feel quite so dark again.

Lord, help us to make our congregations healing places in which we can be real and vulnerable. Amen. — CN