confession

3/4/2020

For our Lenten devotions and practices, we are loosely following the course of our Baptism class, with topics graduated to a more adult level. The first topic is “confession.” We ask those coming to be baptized to make a simple confession, one that is repeated weekly in our traditional worship service: “We believe Jesus is the Christ, Son of the Living God, and accept him as Lord and Savior.” Our communal confession comes from the Preamble to the Design of the Christian Church (DOC), and it contains several “church” words and concepts that have deep meaning within a certain context. Yet that context differs for each of us. We have different experiences, different knowledge, varied bits of wisdom and spiritual intuition. Therefore, I wonder what these words mean to you. Who is Jesus? How do you understand the Christ (the chosen one)? What is the significance of the “Living God?” What does it mean to proclaim Christ as “Lord” and “Savior?” I invite your answers, or questions. Your thoughts, reflections and experiences.

How does your understanding of this confession/profession grow your faith, nurture your spirit or change the way you live?

Peace,
Rob

3 Comments

Phil Latham

3/5/2020 10:47:36 am

Each week making the profession of faith goes far beyond the mere words on the screen. It transforms from flatly two-dimensional into a living, breathing reality. This is not merely rote, all those around you can see and hear. You have proclaimed Jesus as your savior. The doubts have been pushed aside at least for the time being. I feel that deep connection down to my toes.

Ginger Brandt

3/6/2020 02:44:24 pm

These are really big ideas -- "Who is Jesus? How do you understand the Christ (the chosen one)? What is the significance of the “Living God?” What does it mean to proclaim Christ as “Lord” and “Savior?”

(Way to lead off with a long line drive, there, Rob! ALL THE BIG QUESTIONS in one hit, it seems!)

I think I can nibble away at some of my answers. Not all of them and not completely. But as "food for thought..."

Do I see Jesus and Christ as the exactly the same? No. I think I was raised to understand "Jesus Christ" that way, but now I see a bit differently. I understand "Jesus" as the person who lived in Galilee, whose life is recounted in 4 gospel accounts in the New Testament. He is the incarnation of Godself at one time and place, in a form equally human and divine. "The Christ" is a role Jesus took on and enacted on our behalf -- but "Christ" is also a name for the universal, all-the-times and all-the-places incarnation of Godself.... before, after and beyond a moment in 1st century Judea. Christ is the consciousness I believe was "with God" and "was God" in John 1:1. In (possibly clarifying, possibly confusing?) other words: Jesus *is* Christ and The Christ -- but Christ isn't only Jesus. Christ is a divine reality beyond any one being -- a reality that is cosmic, collective and corporate, uniting EVERY person who ever was and will be.

...OK, now I'm in deep, using my "stained glass" vocabulary and spouting out ideas best discussed in person or read from a real theologian. :) I recommend Richard Rohr for more on "what is Christ?" But thanks for the chance to bring out some thoughts and toss them around, here.

...BTW, I *LOVE* what Phil wrote just before me! I know just what that means -- the connection you feel down to your toes, when a whole room of people speaks a confession together and you suddenly realize, in the speaking, that you really, deeply DO "proclaim Jesus as savior" -- even if just in this moment. Everything around & in you is transformed for that moment.

Rob Mason

3/31/2020 07:52:02 am

Thanks Ginger and Phil. To keep it going, I'll say that I wouldn't expect answers to all of life's questions in the comments of a Blog (42? for any fellow hitchhikers) but I will take a crack at one of them.
Proclaiming Jesus as "Lord" for me, in simple terms, means I'm going to try to follow his ways, do the things he does, love what he does. It is not simple to do though. Nor easy. For example, Jesus forgives,seemingly with ease. But it isn't always easy to do. Certainly the capacity to forgive is in my nature (given by God, I'd say, when God breathed life into us) but so is the capacity to hurt when wronged and to hold a grudge. To follow Jesus as Lord, teacher, leader, example, is to forgive those who trespass against me. It is to love and care for the marginalized in our world (hear: hungry, naked, sick and in prison to name a few). It's making room at the table.
When I am engaged in worship,and speak the words of confession, this germ of an idea is always present, and a reminder of just what it is I'm confessing.

confession

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