Rod L. Reinecke, M.Div.

                 My text for this sermon is  “Confession is good for the soul.”

                I have often heard, as you may have, that “Confession is good for the soul.” But I have not heard HOW it is good.  What does that mean? I am sure that confessing our errors or short comings may help open us to others, including God, and may open us to new learning – depending on WHAT we confess, WHEN, and TO WHOM.

                Now some people never seem to confess!  Are you one of those folks?  One way you can tell is if you can smile when things go wrong, you may have someone else in mind to blame!  That’s quite different from making a confession!

                I am not thinking of confessing your misdeeds  in the context of Nazi Germany or of some other oppressive totalitarian regime or of a Grand Inquisition.  I am speaking of my experience in a forgiving, loving congregation or family, where you can hope to find love and forgiveness.   In this sermon, I’ll try to illustrate this from my own experience and perhaps yours, how confession is good for the soul. 

                I guess I’ll have to start with exploring “what is a “soul”?  I have to begin by also confessing that I’m not exactly sure what a “soul” IS!  Is it something we HAVE, or something we ARE?  Is our “soul” our special “identity” or our “essence”?  Do you HAVE  a soul, or does your soul  have YOU – that is, does your soul represent who you truly ARE?  Even though I’ve been ordained for fifty years, I’m not sure.  One definition  I found on the Internet is that “the soul is the self-aware essence unique to a particular living being.”

                Even though I don’t exactly KNOW what one is, I can imagine that the soul is an aspect of ourselves that can know and share love of, and with, others, including our Creator God.  Our soul may represent our capacity for relationship with others, including our relationship with the Divine Power.

                Do you know where our text today comes from?   Is it from the Bible?  Or perhaps from Shakespeare?  In fact, it is from NEITHER!  it is a Scottish proverb or wise saying from the 18^th Century, and originally it was “OPEN confession is good for the soul.”

                This morning I am going to make a public confession of carelessness and  ignorance on my part which occurred earlier this summer.  A number of you know that Ruth, her grown children and their spouses, and her grandchildren and I were to go to Tuscany in Italy, where we had all gone in together to rent a villa for a week.  We had planned this for quite awhile and in May, Ruth and I drove to Philadelphia, from which we were to fly with daughter Laura and her husband, Tim, to London and then to Rome, where we would rent a car for the three hour drive to the villa in Tuscany, near Florence.

                Just before our flight on British Airways, Laura got ready to download our boarding passes on her computer and discovered that the  passport  I had with me was out of date!  I had picked up my former cancelled passport, rather than my current one! I had kept my current and previous passports in the same place – which I’ve learned is NOT A GOOD IDEA! (Hold both of them up.)  And I didn’t know about cancelled passports having two holes punched through them.  (Hold up both current and expired passports.)

                After a moment of despair, we “brain stormed” possible solutions.  I telephoned Carolina AAA and spoke to a representative who made a suggestion which we followed involving the help of a neighbor back at home, but that idea didn’t work, either.  

                I won’t bore you with details of all that we tried, including a suggestion about FedEx from the nice attendant at the British Airways counter, but I’ll just say that nothing worked, in spite of our neighbor’s efforts at Twin Lakes.  Finally, Ruth and the others had to fly on to Italy without me. 

                I returned to our daughter Leslie’s house , where I would spend the week and then meet them at the Philadelphia air terminal on their return.

                The week proved invaluable for reflecting on my experience and how I might share this with you in this sermon.

                I got reassuring calls from Italy that everyone else had arrived safely and they were settled in at the villa in Tuscany.  I also received welcome messages of love, forgiveness and condolences.

                A few of you have heard this next story, but this experience reminded me of another dumb and careless thing I had done years ago.  It was when I was first asked to attend the College of Preachers at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. 

                I had not read the letter of invitation carefully and thought I had to prepare a new sermon for delivery there TO THE OTHER CLERGY PRESENT, when in fact, I was supposed to have brought  a sermon I had ALREADY preached to use with my peers and the staff. 

                When I discovered my error upon my arrival there, I was appalled, embarrassed and ashamed.  I even thought about calling my secretary to air express me an old sermon to cover my mistake. 

                Then I decided not to do that and to simply confess my mistake and to preach the sermon I had prepared especially for the occasion.  I commended myself to God and surrendered my life anew.  I HAD DECIDED TO BE MY TRUE SELF!  No bull, no pretence, no feeling I had to pretend to “know it all” or seem smarter than I was and “on top” of everything.

                The next morning when I awoke, I felt like a new man, strengthened and renewed by the Holy Spirit.  My heart was “strangely warmed”, as if God were within me and strengthening me.  When it came time for me to preach, I confessed my mistake and my colleagues and the staff were understanding and forgiving and able to help me with my preaching in spite of my error.

                When we are in a loving community or family, confessing our mistakes can lead to new growth and the knowledge that we are still loved.  Under those circumstances, confession can indeed be “good for the soul.”

                Once again, I have also been reminded that we don’t just “learn from experience” so much as we learn from “REFLECTING on our experience.”

                This sermon is not based on one of the lessons for this Sunday, but I honestly believe it is based on the whole sweep and story of the Holy Scriptures – how God deals with us graciously and comes to us when we open ourselves to the divine Loving Spirit.

                I confess also that I am grateful to belong to such a loving community as this.  As a congregation, you have forgiven me time and again and supported me and loved me time and again.

                When my first wife left 36 years ago, I expected that my days of ordained ministry were over.  In some churches at that time, that was automatic in the case of clergy divorce.  I wondered how I could be a pastor with a failed marriage – that is, until one of you came to me and said, “I hesitated before to talk with you about my problems, but now I feel you can better understand.”

                In short, the Vestry and you stood behind me, as did Bishop Fraser, and as did my mother and three siblings and family.  You also stood beside and with me during my years as a solo parent as I remained as Rector here. 

                When Ruth and I were married in 1976, you welcomed her and her children as part of this parish family, and some years later, after 25 years in the pastorate,  I resigned as Rector to join Ruth in private practice as a licensed marriage and family therapist in Alamance County.  You welcomed us back as members of the congregation on a new basis, seeking to support the new Rector and not get in the way.   We have stayed as part of this parish family ever since! 

                Naturally, word has spread about my passport plight and failure to get to Italy.  I say “naturally” because people don’t expect one who is supposed to be able to counsel others to be such a “dunderhead” – but only one person has made fun of me for this (and he was not a member of this congregation).

                From our fellow church members, I have received compassion, sympathy and understanding – and quite a few other “passport stories” of their own problems, as people have sought to comfort me.  In fact, you have been living up to your church’s name as having joined God’s Spirit in being “holy comforters!”

                Today, I want to take a picture of THIS Church – that is, of YOU, our members.  This is a great opportunity for me here from this pulpit, to photograph members of this forgiving and accepting community, so here goes.  (Take photograph).  I’m using the camera I got especially for my trip to Tuscany, about which I have already confessed! 

                Many of you probably do not know that this parish used to have a reputation of being tough on its clergy!  When I first came into this Diocese 50 years ago, Holy Comforter was not one where the clergy usually stayed very long.  In fact, until I came, no priest had stayed as rector for more than eleven years in the Episcopal Church here  in Company Shops and Burlington during its hundred year history! 

                But then I stayed here just short of 16 years, and now David has been here about 23 years!  What a change – in both reputation and in reality!!  And how much better you have learned both to care for your clergy and to be cared for by them!

                That’s one reason I’m glad to have this photograph of this church – the people, not just the altar or the building!  You have become a more and more forgiving community, and can thus represent and re-present the God of Jesus Christ.

                I am thankful for this Church of the Holy Comforter and for all of you who are holy comforters of others.

                And now let us continue to praise the Lord!  Amen.