I raised my hand. \u201cWhat if someone\u2019s mom gave them a piece of her communion bread, before they were confirmed?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was before the \u201cI\u2019m asking for a friend\u201d memes were going around (OK, it was before any internet memes), and apparently my teacher missed the concern behind the \u201chypothetical\u201d question. She told me that the person who had eaten holy bread out of turn would be condemned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was the only one who knew: that person was me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And so there I was, lying in my bed, trying to make sense of a life that would lead inevitably to an eternity of torture. I ended up scrolling through radio stations, trying to distract myself from this terror. I landed on a Christian station, and these words flowed from the speaker:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then one night I remembered [God\u2019s] love for me<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And down that dusty road ahead I could see<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It was the only time<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It was the only time I ever saw him run<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n He ran to me, he took me in his arms,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n He held my head to his chest, said \u201cMy son\u2019s come home again,\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Lifted my face, wiped the tears from my eyes,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n With forgiveness in his voice he said: \u201cSon, do you know I still love you?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n [\u201cWhen God Ran,\u201d Phillips, Craig and Dean*]<\/p>\n\n\n\n That message drowned out the bad news my teacher had given me. It silenced the belief that I was condemned forever. Through the words of the song, the Holy Spirit whispered to me: \u201cThe truth is that God loves you and accepts you\u201d and helped me to believe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes we need to hear the words \u201cI still love you,\u201d and \u201cYour sins are forgiven.\u201d<\/strong> We need to hear, \u201cAbide in peace. The Lord has put away all your sins.\u201d It\u2019s kind of like when I go home and tell my spouse: \u201cI did this silly thing today. But that\u2019s not going to make all my coworkers hate me forever, right?\u201d It\u2019s even more like when I ask my spouse to tell me he loves me \u2013 again (especially after I\u2019ve messed up).<\/p>\n\n\n\n We need someone else to remind us of God\u2019s grace and to help us believe that it is true for us. We need that other voice to drown out the messages of the world that tell us over and over again that we are never okay; we need it to drown out our own doubt and guilt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is why Martin Luther fought to keep the practice of private confession. He wrote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moreover, we must have many absolutions, so that we may strengthen our timid<\/em> consciences and despairing hearts against the devil and against God. Therefore, no man<\/em> shall forbid the confession nor keep or draw anyone away from it. And if anyone is<\/em> wrestling with his sins and wants to be rid of them and desires a sure word on the matter,<\/em> let him go and confess to another in secret, and accept what he says to him as if God himself had spoken it through the mouth of this person. However, one who has a strong,<\/em> firm faith that his sins are forgiven may let this confession go and confess to God alone.<\/em> But how many have such a strong faith? Therefore, as I have said, I will not let this<\/em> private confession be taken from me. But I will not have anybody forced to it, but left to<\/em> each one\u2019s free will.<\/em><\/p>\n –Martin Luther, Sermon, March 16, 1522 <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n For this reason Pastor Jim and I are beginning to offer set hours of private confession<\/a>. As Pastor Jim has written:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c..it can be a blessing to share our burden with a pastor who has publicly pledged to never share what is confessed to them. What’s more, the pastor can speak God\u2019s forgiveness to you about that very situation. We leave this conversation of confession and forgiveness assured that God\u2019s forgiveness is even for us. Even in this situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n If you are interested in the ritual of private confession and forgiveness, you are always welcome to make an appointment with Pastor Jim or me (see links below). Starting this week we will also hold a weekly time for drop-in private confession: Sundays from 8 to 9 p.m. and Wednesdays from 9 to 10 p.m. in the baptistry of the Chapel of the Resurrection (right before the Candlelight and Celebrate! services).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pr. Kate<\/p>\n\n\n\n *“When God Ran” lyrics copyright 1985 Curb Word Music (Admin. by WC Music Corp.) Used with permission under CCLI Lic. No. 153728.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Rev. Katherine Museus Dabay<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n University Pastor<\/p>\n\n\n\n 219.464-6453 (office)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 608.201-6418 (cell)<\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/pastorkate.youcanbook.me\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rev. James A. Wetzstein<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n University Pastor<\/p>\n\n\n\n 219.464-6794 (office)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 219.405-0630 (cell)<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was eleven years old, and I was certain it was all over. I was going to hell. In confirmation class that evening our teacher had been explaining how important […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-katherine-museus","category-csl-newsletter-devotionals"],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"dev@eridesign.com","author_link":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/author\/deveridesign-com\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2022\/10\/Shame-300x169.webp","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Katherine Museus<\/a>","CSL Newsletter Devotionals<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Katherine Museus<\/span>","CSL Newsletter Devotionals<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 4 years ago","modified":"Updated 4 weeks ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on October 19, 2022","modified":"Updated on October 8, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on October 19, 2022 4:22 pm","modified":"Updated on October 8, 2026 6:32 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12584,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions\/12584"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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