What Joy!
Psalm 32[1]
Christian worship can seem strange to people who aren’t
used to it. Especially a traditional service like ours. Everything we do in
worship has a reason for it. But because the way we worship was shaped
literally centuries ago, it can reflect a mindset that some people just don’t
connect with. I think that’s especially the case with our unison “Confession of
Sins.” Even if we’re actually praying the prayer as a way of confessing our
sins to God, and not just “saying” the words because that’s what comes next in
the service, it might seem strange that we all “pray” the same confession. As I
said, the way we worship can seem strange to people who may not be used to it.
Some of us these days may be uncomfortable simply admitting
that we have sinned. Some of us are even more uncomfortable admitting that we
are sinners. But from the biblical perspective, both are true: we have
sinned—that relates to our actions. And we are sinners—that relates to who we
are. But it’s not something that’s easy for us to admit. Especially out loud.
The pride that can lie at the heart of our personal insecurities can also lead
us to make our own selves the most important thing in our world. We name that
choice “sin” because it means turning away from the love that shapes our true humanity
and therefore it means turning away from God.[2]
I think this can be a problem even and especially for those
of us in the church all the time. In the evangelical world, people can tend
toward the thinking that “I’m saved, I asked Jesus into my heart and confessed
my sin on such-and-such a date.” They may feel the need to confess “really bad”
actions here and there, but they tend to think that they’ve already confessed
to being a sinner. They’ve got that part covered. In our branch of the
Christian world, we can tend toward the thinking that “I’m a good person, I go
to church, I try to help people and be kind to them, I volunteer my time.”
Given all of that, some of us may feel like the demand to confess that we “are”
sinners is offensive and even harmful. Rather than confessing our sin, some
think we should be affirming that we are good enough just as we are.
In the midst of all this incredibly complicated approach
that we have toward the simple fact that we all can do and say things that we
regret, the Psalmist in our Scripture lesson for today insists that confessing
our sin is something that’s important for our spiritual health and well-being.
Despite the fact that this lesson was written before Christ was even born, it
still remains a truth of our human existence that when we refuse to acknowledge
our wayward behavior, it tends to fester inside us and comes out in all kinds
of ways that aren’t pleasant. Pride, anger, and bitterness are just some of the
ways that we can behave when we try to repress a feeling of guilt for what we
have done.[3]
From the Psalmist’s perspective, refusing to clear his
conscience by admitting his wrongdoing made him feel like God’s hand was
“heavy” upon him (Ps. 32:4). I think most of us can relate to that “heavy” feeling.
And it’s one more clue that we all need the relief and release the Psalmist
says comes as a “blessing” when we confess our sin (Ps. 32:1-2). And that is
precisely what the Psalmist promises in response to the heartfelt, genuine
confession that “I have sinned, and I am a sinner”: relief from the burden of
guilt. That’s why the confession of sin is so important. As long as we hold
back, as long as we refuse to acknowledge who we really are and what we’ve
really done, we will always have lingering doubts about whether God really
accepts us as we are. But when we admit our wrongdoing, we find God’s love
embracing us, God’s grace abounding, and God’s mercy healing us. More than that, when we come to God with the
confession, “I have sinned, and I am a sinner,” and we experience not
condemnation or rejection but acceptance and love and forgiveness, we walk away
from that experience with a stronger sense of trust in the God whose love for
us never fails.
Unfortunately, for too many of us, “confession” is only
something we do at the beginning of a worship service. And even then, because
we do it every Sunday, in the same way, and at the same time, it can begin to
feel like something routine. But for confession to be genuine, it has to be
more than a routine. It has to be something that is heartfelt. It cannot be relegated
to a few words we mumble on Sunday morning. Ongoing confession is an integral
part of the life of faith. If we need to be reminded why it is so important to
confess our sin, all we have to do is remember that, as we say in one of our
Presbyterian Confessions of faith, it is God’s love poured out for us in
Jesus’ death on the cross that exposes our sin.[4] Jesus’ death on the cross shows us that there is something about sin so
damaging to us that God felt it necessary to die for us in order to do
something about it. If our sin is that serious to God, maybe we should take it
more seriously.
The way the New Living Translation of Psalm 32 words
our lesson is with the exclamation, “what joy for those whose disobedience is
forgiven” (Ps 32:1, NLT). It might seem like a strange thing to some of
us. We have a difficult and complicated relationship with aspect of ourselves
at times. And admitting, even to ourselves, that we have fallen short in some
way, can be deeply disturbing. It can challenge our sense of self-worth. But
when we take that approach, we let our own pride get in the way of the
acceptance that God offers us freely. We’re only harming ourselveds. The very
words, “I am a sinner” get caught in our throats as we say them. Yet, they are
so important for us to say. Only when we confess—to ourselves, to one another,
and to God—that we have done what we regret do we fully experience the joy of
God’s unconditional and unfailing love for us.[5] But as the ancient words of Scripture promise, if we’re willing to take that
step, we find what people of faith have experienced for millennia. When we
confess our sins, we know the joy of being embraced by God’s acceptance and
love. A love that claimed us “before the foundation of the world” as Paul says,
and a love that will never let us go, world without end! And what joy it is to
know that our God loves us in that way. What joy indeed!
[1] © 2026 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 2/22/2026 for Hickman
Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2] Cf. Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology, II:50, where he defines sin essentially
as “hubris” or pride.
[3] Cf. Karl Menninger, What Ever Became of
Sin?, 178: “I believe that all the evildoing in which we become involved to
any degree tends to evoke guilt feelings and depression. These may or may not
be clearly perceived, but they affect us. They may be reacted to and covered up
by all kinds of escapism, rationalization, and reaction or symptom formation.”
[4] Cf. The Confession of 1967, 9.12: “The
reconciling act of God in Jesus Christ exposes our sin in the sight of God.”
[5] Cf. James L. Mays, Psalms, 146:
“God’s way is to forgive sinners, and we do not acknowledge his grace unless we
present ourselves to him as sinners.”
