Confession = Telling the Truth
Why did you sing that song? What does “Little Lion Man” have to do with church or the Christian faith?
Our music group for Wednesday night Recharge sang a song from Mumford and Sons called, “Little Lion Man.” For those of you who know it, we did the “clean” version. Afterward a couple kids came up and asked about the song. They liked it, but wanted to know why we sang it. Good questions! I love our kids when they are thinking deeply, critically, and (while they may be surprised they are doing this) THEOLOGICALLY.
To give you a hint, here are the words from the chorus:Â But it was not your fault but mine, and it was your heart on the line, I really MESSED it up this time, didn’t I my dear?
Figure it out? It’s about confession: telling the truth that we are at fault, we messed up, we are responsible for our mess!
Have you noticed any messes in your life, in our community, state, country, and world? Have you noticed that no one is taking responsibility for the messes? “Not my fault!“ And have you noticed that our leaders at every level and from every side are experts at blaming everyone else but themselves? The “boogie men” we blame for all of the messes, and the so-called solutions we heap on the backs of others, really reveals our own blind spots and our own faults.Â
So, as we enter into the season of Lent, when Christians have traditionally thought of giving things up as part of their discipline of faith and focusing on our need for Christ, I want to suggest that we try giving up blaming others for all of the messes and look at how we contribute to the mess. Then maybe, once we have told the truth about ourselves, that we are to blame, we are at fault, we have contributed to the mess, maybe then we will realize and do our part to clean up the mess; to fix, to sacrifice, to heal, to build up instead of tear down.
“If we say we have no sin, we decieve ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 8&9
PK I love this post. I love hearing that you guys are incorporating secular songs in your recharge just like Anne did with Spirit Bound. Also the bible verse, you say that every traditional service but how many times do people hear it? Thought I must admit every time I hear it I automatically go into a silent reflection. Keep it up PK I hope to be able to attend a recharge at some point in time