On Corporate Confession of Sin

Daniel 9:8
"O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You."
The liturgical housekeeping piece fits well in the service today, as the quick reminder of why we worship as we do is about the confession of sin. Daniel confessed the sin of Israel, and included himself. In the same way, our confession of sin is corporate and personal. All together, we are not aiming for an emotional breast-beating session. This is more like a confession of faith that we are sinners.

The words we use are either the best from church history, or written by the worship leader and often relates to the sermon text, where that convicts us in a certain direction. This is one way the worship leader shepherds the congregation – it’s quite a thing to hand someone a confession of sin for them to pray to God, and for my part it is one of the most difficult things I do each week.

After the corporate reading, we also take time silently to confess our sins. Each of us brings to mind our own sins and confesses them. Like the rest of worship, this is the example for us to follow the rest of the week in our relationship to God. We don’t wait until Sunday to confess our sins, just like we don’t wait until Sunday to pray, read the Bible, or enjoy fellowship with God. If we find that we are only confessing sin at church, there is probably something amiss in our relationship with the Lord.

8/12/12