Week Three (Accountability) - Sunday

Accountability

This session really consists of two distinct and individual habits: community and confession.  But in truth, each plays an integral part in the other’s effectiveness, so for the purpose of this spiritual formation experience they have been grouped together.  Yet, we would be remiss to talk of them only in relation to the other.  So let’s look at each of these disciplines separately and then we will be able to coalesce them in a fashion that will suit the purpose of this encounter.

Community

What do you think of when you hear the word “community?”   Do you become nostalgic for the days of yesteryear when people sat on their front porches and “visited” with one another?  Or are you drawn to the concept of when church seemed like your extended family and you knew everybody and everybody knew you?  Do you feel like community is something that has been lost in the church and will never be recovered?

Community is a very old institution and is very much biblical.  People were never intended to be alone.  God has intended since Creation for people to be in communion with one another.  We see this confirmed in Genesis 2:18, when God said, “…It is not good that the man [Adam] should be alone; I will make him a helper to be his partner.”  As we see in the following verses, God brought forth all the other creatures of the earth, but none was suitable for the man.  So God created woman to be his partner in life, to be in communion with him.

So, you may be asking, “If community is so important, why is the church changing so and not trying to keep the community that we are used to?”  The answer is  really a double-edge sword.  On the downside, community has to change as a church grows.  As new people come into its fellowship (a church word meaning “community”) the dynamics of the community changes to include them.  Otherwise, no one would ever feel a part and eventually, the community will die for lack of growth.   On the upside, while the church may be having to redefine the community on a continuous basis, we are now starting to rediscover the true meaning of community, as God had intended.

Would you believe that the church has really lost its true identity as a community of faith?  In the terms that God intend for a church to live, community is radically different from what we are accustomed to.  While the early church fathers and mothers shared all physical possessions in common, the aspects of community that needs to be revisited is the moral and spiritual realms.  Throughout the Bible, when the community of God is addressed, they shared all the joys, pains, triumphs, and punishment together.  No one was an island unto themselves.  If one person sinned, it became the sin of the community and the community had to pay the consequence.

How different the church would be if each person understood that their thoughts, words, and actions would be used to bless or smite the rest of the church?!  I would suggest that this, as far as God is concerned, has not changed.  Churches are still blessed and judged on the basis of the actions and inactions of the church as a whole and each individual.

Confession

Confession is a habit that has been all but lost in most Protestant churches.  It is still considered a sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church, but even there, it no longer holds the power that it once held.  Why is it becoming a thing of the past?  It may be because we don’t like for others to see that we are flawed.  We can blame this on at least a couple of places.  First, we can blame our culture, which only uses the absolute perfect persons to advertise or endorse their product or their way.  When those aren’t perfect enough, they are altered either physically or by computer-generated technology.  We could lay all the blame there, but if we do, we are only deceiving ourselves.  The real culprit is deeply imbedded in each of us – our ego.  We have this innate sense to be better than others, in actuality or at least in perception.  To confess our sins destroys that perception.  It makes us more…human, more flawed.

Confession has never been a staple in any Protestant church because at the time of the Protestant Reformation, the early reformers had such disdain for the Roman Catholic Church and saw so much corruption within it that they were repulsed at the idea carrying on the same practices.  Thus, the seven sacraments that the Roman Catholic Church espoused, of which confession was one, were trimmed to only two: Baptism and Holy Communion.  These two remained sacraments because they were specific edicts by Jesus for the church to continue.

Today, many in Protestant churches shirk off the notion of confession with the excuse that “no priest (human) has the authority to forgive my sins.”  That’s where the misconception lies.  The real purpose of confession is not to seek forgiveness from a person, but from God.  In confession, we are truly verbalizing our sins, our fallen state, and our need of forgiveness. Verbalizing brings it out; we say it and we hear it.  It is out there and there is no way to hide it any longer.

You may have heard the old adage, “Confession is good for the soul.”  Believe it or not, this is true not only for the soul, but for the body.  When we refuse to confess our sins, we carry around that sin within us.  Not only is a heavy load that continually wears us down, it is also destructive to our bodies.  Science confirms that persons, who worry less and have less stress in their life, live longer and healthier lives.  Even James knew this two thousand years ago!  In James 5:16, the writer says, “Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.”  Healing comes from getting rid of that which is making you sick!  So let’s think about this: nothing good comes from sin.  Sin eats at you, sin worries you, and sin separates you from God.  So why, in the name of Jesus, should we carry it with us?

Okay, you may say, “That makes sense, but why can’t we confess our sins in private?”  I’ll admit; I don’t like the idea of airing my dirty laundry in front of others.  But, that stems from my egotistical pride.  I want people to think that I am better than I am and basically, that my life doesn’t hold a lot of sin.  Chances are, if you are honest with yourself, you are the same.  Friends, that in itself is a sin.  When we try to minimize our sins, we are trying to be like God.

Another reason that confessing before one another is important is because it is scriptural.  If we look again at that same verse from James, 5:16, we’ll see that James is directing us to confess our sins to one another.  Why?  The reason immediately follows, so that you may “pray for one another.”  You see, we confess our sins to each other so that someone else will be praying for us.  If you are like me, when I confess my sins, I don’t feel worthy of asking God for forgiveness.  I can use someone to petition on my behalf.

Of course, we need to be frugal about who we choose to make confessions to.  The person that you choose to be your confidant needs to be one that you can feel completely open and honest with.  It must be one that you know will hold your confession in confidence and never speak of it again (unless you bring it up first).  I wish that I could say that you should be able to find that quality in any person in the church, but in reality, you can’t.  But rest assured, God has placed, or will place the right person in your midst.  This week, in your spiritual formation group, you will cover more about how to participate in confession, but for now, let us look these two practices can be joined together.

The Joining Together of Community and Confession

By now, maybe you are beginning to see the connection between community and confession.  Within the context of community is an indelible link to the need of confession and confession is of little value without community.

This week’s session is designed to heighten your awareness of the true community and how to begin to make it an aspect of value and importance in the church once again.  Once you and the others in your spiritual formation group begin to reconnect with the ancient and biblical understanding of community, you will begin to feel more at ease with confession.  Being able to find someone to be your confidant will become easier because each person realizes that breaking confidence is in itself a sin – a personal sin, a sin of the group, and ultimately a sin of the Body of Christ.  Likewise, confession within the group or to your confidant will help liberate you and the church from the restraints that the sin has held you and the church in for far too long.  It may seem awkward and even uncomfortable at first.  The confessions you make may start off as being relatively small or trivial.  But the more you confess, there will be less sin for you to carry with you and there will be more prayers lifted up to our loving and forgiving God on behalf of our sisters and brothers in the community of Christ.


JOURNAL QUESTIONS

1. Reflect on your sermon notes and journal reading from today.



GROUP EXERCISE

10 minutes - Community Building (informal time of gathering)
10 minutes - Sharing of Concerns and Praises
  5 minutes - Prayer for One Another
25 minutes - Discussion of Topic
                     - When do you think the church is at its best?
                     - Why do we feel uncomfortable with confession?
                     - Does confession have to be a "bad" thing?
                     - How can we become a confessing community?
10 minutes - Wrap Up/Closing Prayer 
                    (Maybe try a moment of confession/forgiveness in pairs) 

Week Two (Bible Study) - Saturday

Revelation 22:18-19

18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. 19 And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.





^Reflect
To what was John referring when he said, "This book"?

Week Two (Bible Study) - Friday

Acts 17:10-12

10 As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. 12 Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.




^Reflect
What can you learn from the Bereans?

Week Two (Bible Study) - Thursday

2 Timothy 3:16

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,




^{Reflect
Some say scripture is "inspired by God." Does this verse support that stance? What does this verse say to you? Is the Bible infallible?}

Week Two (Bible Study) - Wednesday

Psalm 137

1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. 2 There on the poplars we hung our harps, 3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" 4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land? 5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget [its skill]. 6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy. 7 Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. "Tear it down," they cried, "tear it down to its foundations!" 8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us-- 9 he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks. 

Luke 6:35
35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.




^{Reflect
Compare these two readings. Why is there a difference in how the writers though of their enemies?}

Week Two (Bible Study) - Tuesday

John 1:1-18

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' " 16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.





^{Reflect
Is this also a story about Creation? How does it compare to the other two stories about Creation?}

Week Two (Bible Study) - Monday

^{Genesis 1:1-2:4a}
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning--the first day. 6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning--the second day. 9 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning--the third day. 14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 God made two great lights--the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning--the fourth day. 20 And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." 23 And there was evening, and there was morning--the fifth day. 24 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." 29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground--everything that has the breath of life in it--I give every green plant for food." And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the sixth day.
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. 4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created. 

Genesis 2:4b-25
When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens-- 5 and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground-- 7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. 8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. 15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." 18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." 19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man." 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. 25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.



^{Reflect
These readings represent two accounts of Creation. Briefly list the order of Creation from each account. Compare the two orders}