Reflection

In the Lord’s prayer, we pray to “our” Father, ask for “our” daily bread, and confess “our” sins. As westerners, we tend to think individualistically, and so we may miss what these “ours” add to the prayer. Hauerwas and Willimon help us think about what it means to confess “our” sins:

We are conditioned to think of sin as a personal problem, a private slip -up. Yet the most interesting sins we commit are utterly corporate and communal. Forgiveness may be the most political act Christians possess. We inherit practices from the past based upon terrible injustices and evil. For instance, America is a country whose history is forever marred by slavery. Race remains an insoluble problem because those who are White , cannot do anything about the past other than to forget it. What do you do about actions that are so wrong that nothing can be done to make them right?

. . . we believe that one of the most extraordinary signs of God’s grace is the willingness of African American Christians to seek reconciliation with White Christians. That African Americans remain Christian at all is a miracle since they were told that Christianity justified slavery. What could be more powerful than for White Christians to accept the forgiveness offered by realizing that we need not deny the sins of the past? Rather, now our memories can be redeemed through the confession of sin so that our stories, as Whites and as Blacks can be transformed into the common story of being Christian.

Action (Commune)

Can you think of any ways that you’ve been implicated in the sins of a group? Knowing that God has forgiven you beyond measure, can you confess this sin to God? Knowing that you are a forgiven sinner, how will this affect the way you live?

Check in with your Lenten exercise partners. How are you doing at fasting from privilege? Have you found a way to be relationally present with someone who is poor?