Psalms of the Passion: 4. Alienation

PSALMS OF THE PASSION: 4. ALIENATION

I started this series of talks about the psalms of the passion with reference to a Franciscan friar, Br Edward, who helped me to articulate God's call to the priesthood.

I now wish to conclude the series with reference to another Franciscan friar, Br Michael, who also had an influence upon my early spiritual development.

I suppose I must have been about seventeen years old when I first met Br Michael at St Francis House, Hemingford Grey, in Cambridgeshire, which is a retreat house run by the Community of the Resurrection.

As a result of that meeting, I found myself, some two months later, making the first of many visits to the Franciscan friary in Lady Margaret Road, Cambridge.

Over those days, I had several conversations with Br Michael, one of which concerned the Sacrament of Confession. As far as I was concerned, only Roman Catholics went to Confession, and not members of the Church of England.

He quickly put me right, by drawing my attention to the Book of Common Prayer where there are three references to the sacrament. Firstly, in the Ordination Service, a priest is given authority by the church to pronounce God's absolution of sins.

Secondly, in the service for The Visitation of the Sick,it talks about the sick person being, 'moved to make special confession of sins’.

And thirdly, in the first Exhortation in the Holy Communion service, which follows the prayer for the Church Militant, the priest invites parishioners, intending to make their communion, 'who cannot quit his conscience…. but require further comfort or counsel, to come to me, or some other discreet and learned Minister of God's Word, and open his grief: that by ministry of God's Holy Word he may receive the benefit of absolution, together with ghostly counsel and advice, to the quietening of his conscience’.

This was all news to me, as it may be to some of you here this evening, who have also been brought up on the Book of Common Prayer.

Br Michael, then introduced me to what the late Kenneth Ross used to call the ABC of confession.

A is for asking God to show me where I have failed him, commonly called self-examination.

B is for being sorry for my failings with a determination to do better.

C is for confession of my sins or failings. I must admit I was somewhat relieved when Br Michael said I did not have to go to my parish priest for confession, but could go to any priest. He assured me that the priest would never be shocked at what he heard, and nor would he divulge the contents of a confession to anyone else. This is called the 'Seal of the Confessional’. After all, I am not making my confession to the priest, but to God, in the presence of one of his priests.

Finally, D is for a doing better in the future. This does not mean that confession would prevent me from committing sin in the future, but rather it would help to restore my relationship with God, provided I was sincere in trying to do better in the future.

Well, I guess Br Michael must have been pretty perceptive because for some time I had been feeling cut off from God. He who had once been so close and real to me, now often seemed distant and remote. Yet, deep down, I knew that this was not God cutting himself off from me, but rather me cutting myself off from God through sin. Through consistently failing to be the person God had created me to be, I was building up a barrier between God and myself. I therefore felt alienated from him.

To cut a long story short, after a few days of real heart searching, I found myself kneeling beside Br Michael in the chapel, reciting a list of my failings to God, which I had noted upon a scruffy piece of paper. I felt very ashamed and kept dropping my voice in embarrassment. I concluded, asking for advice, since it was important to overcome these weaknesses in the future, and absolution. After a brief chat, Br Michael pronounced God's absolution of my sins. I arose from my knees and walked out of the chapel with a spring in my step, feeling that a great burden had been lifted. I could walk tall, once again.

This was the first time that I had made my confession, which I have always found helpful in subsequent years. True, I had joined in the public confession of sin at the Eucharist, Sunday by Sunday, sometimes with more feeling that at other times, However, choosing to make a personal confession to God, in the presence of a priest, made me take sin and God's forgiveness much more seriously than before. I felt that I had been thoroughly washed clean.

And this is what Jesus did at the Last Supper, when he washed the feet of his disciples.

Let me remind you how St John describes the scene.

'Jesus got up from table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.

'He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus answered, "You do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand." Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me”.’([John 13.4-8)

Very often this passage is interpreted in terms of the disciples being encouraged to follow the example of Jesus in serving other people. This is a very comfortable interpretation, since it makes little demand upon us, save not to be choosey who we serve, or whose feet we wash. And Peter was happy with that interpretation because of its minimum demands.

However, I would suggest that such an interpretation misses the whole point of the story, as Peter discovered to his cost. It is essentially about allowing Jesus to serve us by washing away all the sin that alienates us from God. Now that is much harder, because we find it hard to acknowledge and own our sin, let alone admit our need for forgiveness. 'You will never wash my feet’, we say with St Peter, to which Jesus replies, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.’

The anonymous writer of Psalm 51 recognised this when he prayed:

'Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great goodness: according to the multitude of thy mercies, do away mine offences.

Wash me thoroughly from my wickedness: and cleanse me from my sin.'

The psalmist realises that his sin has cut him off from God. Unlike other psalms of lament, the psalmist does not complain about his personal enemies, nor about any mischievous plots by those who hate him. There is no attempt to direct the blame of his actions upon other people. Rather, he accepts full responsibility for his own actions, which is the first step towards seeking forgiveness.

'For I acknowledge my faults: and my sin is ever before me.

Against thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified in thy saying, and clear when thou art judged’.

The psalmist realises that his current alienation from God is justly deserved and it is therefore no good just blaming human nature for his failings.

'Behold, l was shapen in wickedness: and in sin hath my mother conceived me.

But lo, thou requirest truth in the inward parts: make me to understand wisdom secretly'.

So, the psalmist asks God to cleanse him in the same way as he ritually cleanses a leper with the use of the hyssop plant.

'Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be as white as snow.

Thou shalt make me hear of joy and gladness: that the bone which thou hast broken may rejoice.

Turn thy face from my sins; and put out all my misdeeds’.

But the psalmist is not concerned just about the outward manifestation of sin, but also about the inner motivation that lay behind such sin.

'Make me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right spirit within me.'

However, forgiveness is not enough in itself. What is needed is a new life, which is the gift of the spirit of God who initiated new life at the time of creation. A new beginning, a chance to start all over again.

'Cast me not away from thy presence: and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.

O give me the comfort of thy help again: and stablish me with thy free spirit’.

Now most psalms of lament, of which this is one, usually conclude with a note of thanksgiving in an act of public worship. However, this psalmist responds in three ways. Firstly, he is anxious that his transgressions be used as an example to encourage others to turn to God. Secondly, he offers a song of thanksgiving for his deliverance from death, be it physical or spiritual. And finally, he declines to follow the tradition of offering an animal sacrifice as a token of his thanksgiving, preferring to offer instead his own broken heart.

'Then shall I teach thy ways unto the wicked: and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou that art the God of my health: and my tongue shall sing of thy righteousness.

Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord: and my mouth shall shew thy praise.

For thou desirest no sacrifice, else would I give it thee: but thou delightest not in burnt offerings.

The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, shalt thou not despise’.

However, the doing away of burnt offerings appears to have proved too radical for a later scribe. He therefore added a PS to the psalm, which suggests that the suspension of sacrifices was only temporary, whilst the Temple was being rebuilt, following upon the Jews return from exile in Babylon.

'O be favourable and gracious unto Sion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.

Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness, with the burnt-offerings and oblations: then shall they offer young bullocks upon thine altar’.

So on this Maundy Thursday, we recall how Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, not just to remove the dirt and dust from the Eastern road which clung to their feet through their open sandals, but also symbolically the sin that clings so tenaciously, causing alienation of the human soul from God.

We also recall how Jesus comes to you and me, to wash our feet and cleanse our souls from sin. Do you, like Peter, protest, or do you accept his generous offer?

And if you accept his offer, how are you going to express your need for forgiveness?

Are you going to avail yourself of the Church's Sacrament of Confession? After all, the Church of England practice is 'All can, some should, none must’. Have you a good reason for thinking you are not among the 'some should’? And if you decide you are among the 'none must', I still invite you, as you approach Good Friday, to spend some time in self-examination, to decide what needs to be crucified and put to death within your life. Then to offer the results of that self-examination to God, asking for his mercy and forgiveness of your sins, so that you can experience the new life which God offers each one of us, of which Easter is a sign.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power to his Church to absolve all sinners who truly repent and believe in him, of His great mercy forgive thee thine offences: And by His authority committed to me, I absolve thee from all thy sins. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen

Go on thy way, O Christian soul, the Lord has put away all thy offences, and pray for me a sinner also.