Wednesday Word: Confession as Offense

When I was in driver's ed I remember being told to “drive defensively.” In other words, I should be ready to react to any possible situation that might lead to an accident. But the more I thought about driving defensively, the more that didn't make sense to me. In almost every sport the defense reacts to what the offense does. Or, to put it another way, the defense has to wait for the offense to do something before it can act. So I began driving offensively. That is, instead of waiting for something to happen and reacting to it, I would be proactive in anticipating what might happen and plan my moves ahead of time.

This has actually saved me on more than one occasion where I was able to plan ahead so that I could proactively avoid an accident instead of being surprised and reacting to a situation, possibly making things worse.

Lent is the season of self-examination and repentance and of making right beginnings as we turn back to the Lord. In Lent we confess our sins at the beginning of the service as a way to both symbolically and honestly begin our worship in a state of absolution and grace. At other times in the year the Confession happens immediately before the Peace as a way to symbolically and honestly examine our lives and conduct so that we may share rightly in the celebration of Holy Communion.

I got to thinking about Lent and driver's ed. In a sense, the Confession is reminding us that we live our lives treating sin defensively. We react to sin by reciting the Confession: we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

This is living defensively. This is reacting to sin.

But, instead of playing defense and reacting by confessing our faults after we have sinned, what if we attacked sin offensively? What if, instead of using the Confession as a clean up after the fact, we used it as an offensive game plan? We obviously can't do this all the time; but I'm willing to bet there are a few places in our lives where we know sin lies in wait for us. Maybe, as I've said before, we know our car is possessed by the devil and we drive and/or gesture in very un-Christ-like ways. Or maybe we know our phones or computers are fertile grounds for straying from God's ways.

It might be helpful to place a copy of the Confession in those places where we know we struggle. Tape a copy to your steering wheel or to the top of your laptop. Maybe make the Confession your home/wallpaper screen on your phone. By doing this, you just might be able to proactively avoid sinning in your immediate future. By doing this, you just might be able to put sin on defense.

May you have an offensive Lent,

Todd+