A CALL TO CONFESSION
By Rev. Erika Rembert Smith, Pastor, Washington Shores Presbyterian and Member of CFP Anti-Racism Committee
Week after week we gather for worship to offer thanks and praise to God. In good times we recognize that God has blessed us; and on difficult days we know that God has kept us. So, we make our way to worship to express gratitude for God’s presence and power that is at work in the world and in our lives.
Leaning into our Reformed heritage, we do ‘the work of the people’ through the liturgy of worship. We call one another to worship through words that focus our attention on God. We sing songs of faith that express praise to God, that bolster faith in Jesus Christ, that charge us to be the people of God in word and deed.
In worship, we affirm what we believe through the creeds of the church; creeds like the Brief Statement of Faith where we declare that...
In life and in death we belong to God.
Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit,
we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel,
whom alone we worship and serve.[1]
Our work as the people of God in worship include adoration, praise, profession and confession. In our humanity, we sin in word, thought and deed. Therefore, time is set aside in worship to confess the ways that we have failed to live as the people of God.
If we are truthful, we don’t always love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We don’t always treat our family and/or our siblings in Christ with the dignity and respect they deserve. There are times when we hang on to anger instead of seeking peace. Sometimes we harbor bitterness instead of offering forgiveness. Oftentimes we allow our bias to lead us instead of being led by the kind of love that Christ commands us to show.
In the first chapter his new book, What Kind of Christianity: A History of Slavery and Anti-Black Racism in the Presbyterian Church, author, professor and teaching elder, Dr. William Yoo asks the question first raised by the Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon: “What kind of Christianity allowed white Christians to deny basic human rights and simple dignity to Blacks, these same rights which have been given to others without question?”[2] [3]
We have entered the season of Lent. The season of reflection and introspection which, when done prayerfully, leads to repentance and renewal. During this season we wrestle with sin – individually and collectively – that we might live the kind of Christianity that truly bears witness to the name and life of Jesus Christ.
The kind of wrestling that takes place during this season challenges us to grapple with Dr. Cannon’s question, “Where was the Church and the Christian believers when Black women and Black men, Black boys and Black girls, were being raped, sexually abused, lynched, assassinated, castrated and physically oppressed?”[4] Lent’s introspection invites us to ask where are we as followers of Christ, when BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) are marginalized and mistreated as if they do not matter. The season of Lent compels us to ask where we stand when people who are created in the image of God are dehumanized and discarded from history. The season of Lent calls us to walk away and to say good-bye to sin, as we turn to God, walk in the light of God and live in obedience to God’s word.
Week after week, we gather to hear how God acted throughout the history of God’s people and we listen for a word about how God’s faithfulness through history applies to our lives today. In worship, we profess our trust in God, whom Jesus called Abba, Father; and affirm that
In sovereign love God created the world good
and makes everyone equally in God’s image
male and female, of every race and people,
to live as one community.[5]
As a result, we hear the good news that God’s love and faithfulness endures and is extended to each of us.
Confession is good for the soul, for the community and for the Church. It is my hope and prayer that we will, individually and collectively, take time during Lent to reflect on the ways we fall short of embracing God’s call to love in word and deed all of God’s people. May our Lenten reflection, introspection and confession lead us to live the kind of life we speak about so that we might experience resurrection in a holy, wholly new way.
[1] Office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), “Brief Statement of Faith” in The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA) Part I, Book of Confessions, (Louisville: Office of the General Assembly, 2016).
[2] Article by Mike Ferguson, Presbyterian News Service, found at https://www.presbyterianmission.org/story/dr-william-yoo-a-seminary-professor-and-author-helps-the-pma-board-take-an-honest-look-at-presbyterian-complicity-in-slavery-and-anti-black-racism/
[3] William Yoo, What Kind of Christianity: A History of Slavery and Anti-Black Racism in the Presbyterian Church. 2022, Westminster John Knox Press, 2022. p.1
[4] Ibid, p.1.
[5] Office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), “Brief Statement of Faith” in The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA) Part I, Book of Confessions, (Louisville: Office of the General Assembly, 2016).
Leaning into our Reformed heritage, we do ‘the work of the people’ through the liturgy of worship. We call one another to worship through words that focus our attention on God. We sing songs of faith that express praise to God, that bolster faith in Jesus Christ, that charge us to be the people of God in word and deed.
In worship, we affirm what we believe through the creeds of the church; creeds like the Brief Statement of Faith where we declare that...
In life and in death we belong to God.
Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit,
we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel,
whom alone we worship and serve.[1]
Our work as the people of God in worship include adoration, praise, profession and confession. In our humanity, we sin in word, thought and deed. Therefore, time is set aside in worship to confess the ways that we have failed to live as the people of God.
If we are truthful, we don’t always love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We don’t always treat our family and/or our siblings in Christ with the dignity and respect they deserve. There are times when we hang on to anger instead of seeking peace. Sometimes we harbor bitterness instead of offering forgiveness. Oftentimes we allow our bias to lead us instead of being led by the kind of love that Christ commands us to show.
In the first chapter his new book, What Kind of Christianity: A History of Slavery and Anti-Black Racism in the Presbyterian Church, author, professor and teaching elder, Dr. William Yoo asks the question first raised by the Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon: “What kind of Christianity allowed white Christians to deny basic human rights and simple dignity to Blacks, these same rights which have been given to others without question?”[2] [3]
We have entered the season of Lent. The season of reflection and introspection which, when done prayerfully, leads to repentance and renewal. During this season we wrestle with sin – individually and collectively – that we might live the kind of Christianity that truly bears witness to the name and life of Jesus Christ.
The kind of wrestling that takes place during this season challenges us to grapple with Dr. Cannon’s question, “Where was the Church and the Christian believers when Black women and Black men, Black boys and Black girls, were being raped, sexually abused, lynched, assassinated, castrated and physically oppressed?”[4] Lent’s introspection invites us to ask where are we as followers of Christ, when BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) are marginalized and mistreated as if they do not matter. The season of Lent compels us to ask where we stand when people who are created in the image of God are dehumanized and discarded from history. The season of Lent calls us to walk away and to say good-bye to sin, as we turn to God, walk in the light of God and live in obedience to God’s word.
Week after week, we gather to hear how God acted throughout the history of God’s people and we listen for a word about how God’s faithfulness through history applies to our lives today. In worship, we profess our trust in God, whom Jesus called Abba, Father; and affirm that
In sovereign love God created the world good
and makes everyone equally in God’s image
male and female, of every race and people,
to live as one community.[5]
As a result, we hear the good news that God’s love and faithfulness endures and is extended to each of us.
Confession is good for the soul, for the community and for the Church. It is my hope and prayer that we will, individually and collectively, take time during Lent to reflect on the ways we fall short of embracing God’s call to love in word and deed all of God’s people. May our Lenten reflection, introspection and confession lead us to live the kind of life we speak about so that we might experience resurrection in a holy, wholly new way.
[1] Office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), “Brief Statement of Faith” in The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA) Part I, Book of Confessions, (Louisville: Office of the General Assembly, 2016).
[2] Article by Mike Ferguson, Presbyterian News Service, found at https://www.presbyterianmission.org/story/dr-william-yoo-a-seminary-professor-and-author-helps-the-pma-board-take-an-honest-look-at-presbyterian-complicity-in-slavery-and-anti-black-racism/
[3] William Yoo, What Kind of Christianity: A History of Slavery and Anti-Black Racism in the Presbyterian Church. 2022, Westminster John Knox Press, 2022. p.1
[4] Ibid, p.1.
[5] Office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), “Brief Statement of Faith” in The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA) Part I, Book of Confessions, (Louisville: Office of the General Assembly, 2016).