This past Sunday at Mass, we sang Frederick William Faber’s beautiful hymn “There’s a wideness in God’s mercy.” But as it occurs in The Hymnal 1982, perhaps the most extraordinary verse is left out.
But we make God’s love too narrow
by false limits of our own,
and we magnify its strictness
with a zeal God will not own.
Is this really what many of us believe? Is this what some Christians believe when they say that God hates certain groups of people or that a natural disaster inflicted on a particular city was the enactment of God’s wrath on that place?
The oft-unheard third verse of Faber’s hymn reminds us of two chilling tendencies within the human condition. We make God smaller than he is (to paraphrase the late Archbishop Michael Ramsey), and we make God into a superhuman (like us but far bigger) who is full of rage. We do this “with a zeal God will not own” because holding onto our anger and resentments is a powerful feeling. And we, unfortunately, wish to attribute such fickleness (interestingly, a fickleness akin to that of the mythological gods and goddesses) to God. But Faber’s hymn reminds us that the wideness of God’s mercy surpasses our limited human understanding. And as the hymn concludes, in The Hymnal 1982’s version:
If our love were but more faithful,
we should take him at his word;
and our life would be thanksgiving
for the goodness of the Lord.
As I see it, the Sacrament of Reconciliation (private confession) is an act of thanksgiving “for the goodness of the Lord.” But far too often, the confessional is seen as a place of anxiety. Is that because we “magnify. . . the “strictness” [of God’s love] with a zeal God will not own”? If we fear the confessional, then could it be that we don’t yet trust enough in the wideness of God’s mercy?
In one sense, it can be extremely difficult to appreciate the wideness of God’s mercy without bringing the concrete specificity of our sins into the loving presence of the Church (represented by the priest confessor) and then receiving the clear and certain assurance that God has indeed forgiven us. Indeed, God has forgiven us before we asked for it, and to recognize this astounding reality, repentance and confession are necessary. There is a palpable sense of release and freedom when the priest utters the words of absolution. In Form Two of the Rite of Reconciliation in the 1979 prayer book, the priest concludes (after the absolution) with these incredible words, drawing on imagery from the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke’s Gospel: “Now there is rejoicing in heaven; for you were lost, and are found; you were dead, and are now alive in Christ Jesus our Lord. Abide in peace. The Lord has put away all your sins” (451).
The point of a good confession is not to feel guilty. The point is not that God won’t forgive a sinner unless the sinner confesses to a priest. The point is to be assured, in a way that we humans often need, that God’s mercy is infinitely wide and that we have no need to “magnify its strictness.” The Sacrament of Reconciliation in our prayer book is contained with the “Pastoral Offices” section. It’s telling that not only is the act of confession a sacramental act; it’s also a way of receiving pastoral care. And the rite is also located in the prayer book before the Ministration to the Sick. Just as the priest wears a violet stole for anointing with holy oil in a healing rite, the priest wears a violet stole for confessions. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a sacrament of healing.
A wise and faithful priest should never, of course, make you feel worse after you’ve confessed. A wise and faithful priest should also be making their own confession regularly! But a wise and faithful priest can also offer words of comfort and offer an objective and gentle assessment of patterns that one confesses. This can help us see our own sinful proclivities, and this knowledge is helpful in praying for special grace to change those distorted tendencies.
In short, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a gift of Christ to his Church. As we near Holy Week and Easter, I heartily encourage you to consider availing yourself of this gift. I highly recommend Fr. Martin Smith’s book Reconciliation: Preparing for Confession in the Episcopal Church. If you need additional help, please contact me, and you may also contact me (or any other priest) to schedule a confession. It’s my prayer that the gift of confession will enable you to “take [God] at his word,” trusting in his boundless forgiveness. And may all our lives, lived in Christ before a merciful God, be “thanksgiving for the goodness of the Lord.”
Yours in Christ,
Father Kyle