{"id":484,"date":"2011-07-28T13:15:19","date_gmt":"2011-07-28T13:15:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christcommunitychurch.com\/blog\/?p=484"},"modified":"2015-04-22T09:37:58","modified_gmt":"2015-04-22T13:37:58","slug":"sunday-we-confess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/christcommunitychurch.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/28\/sunday-we-confess\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday, We Confess"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each of our worship services includes a time of confession. This part of our liturgy has always interested me, largely because it is a practice found across various religious traditions. So why do we do it? There’s a lot to that answer, and I’ll unpack it over the course of several weeks. To understand how corporate confession of sin could find a place in protestant worship, consider the grand context of our worship. When we gather to worship our God, we are recounting the gospel story, illustrating it through our own experiences, and reiterating our assurance in it. Everything we do on Sunday points to the cross. That’s why, when we confess our sins, we remind ourselves that we were lost, in need of something we could not secure on our own. And\u00a0it is equally important to be\u00a0reminded, as often as we confress together,\u00a0that Christ’s work satisfied his wrath once and for all.\u00a0Jeff Purswell, of Covenant Life Church (the worship team’s host August 10-14<\/a>), adds some depth to this conversation:<\/p>\n

…it is through the power of the gospel that we are transformed to live new lives by the power of the Spirit. It is through the gospel that we are freed from selfishness to give our lives in service of others. Sure, the scope of Christ\u2019s redemption is the whole cosmos (Colossians 1:20), but at the center of his redemptive concern are rebellious image-bearers whom he is ransoming to be his children. But all of these entailments, implications, and promises are founded upon the rock-solid, unchanging accomplishment of God through the gospel of his Son. It is this message that is God\u2019s power to save sinners, to comfort the grieving, to motivate the listless, to encourage the downhearted, to assure the guilt-stricken.<\/p>\n

This message never changes; this message is always true; and so our hope is always secure.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the full article here<\/a>. See you Sunday.<\/p>\n