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This is the last podcast of the series and one of the more important ones. It will sound significantly different than the rest of the podcasts, but listen all the way through.
If you have comments, thoughts, or strong feelings about this podcast, feel free to leave comments below.
The Movie
At about the 17:30 minute mark in this podcast, we watched a snippet of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. We focused on the scenes where Edmund is rescued from the White Witch, when she comes to claim what is rightfully hers, and the sacrifice Aslan makes on his behalf.
If you haven’t seen the movie, I’d suggest getting it and watching it before listening to the podcast. It will make a little more sense.
A Receptive State of Mind
In this podcast, I left in the opening Presence exercise we use every week to help those attending the class to become fully present and open to being there. Here’s the steps we move through each week:
- P—Presence—Aware of feelings walking into the room.
- R—Relax—Emotions are in our physical body
- O—Openness—Being able to conceive that you can be different is essential
- B—Breathe—You can change your emotional state most easily by breathing
- L—Listen—What does God want you to hear right now?
- E—Expression—What does God need to know right now?
- M—Meet Someone—This is a shared journey. Know who you’re sitting by
Benefits of Confession
C.S. Lewis explains repentance as “unlearning all the self-conceit and self will that we have been training ourselves into.. it means killing part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death.”
Here are some significant benefits of the confession of sin, the acceptance of yourself as a flawed person, and having a penitent heart.
Penitence is simply defined as “repentance: remorse for your past conduct.”
- Penitence makes me realistic about myself—As soon as I say, “Lord, Have Mercy on me a Sinner” all the self delusions fall away and I can begin to see myself as I really am.
- Penitence makes me realistic about other people—Not only realistic, but compassionate. If I’m a struggling sinner, then so is everyone else. When they make mistakes against me, I can understand and be compassionate.
- Penitence makes me realistic about God—If I’m a sinner and see myself clearly, then I suddenly see God clearly too. I cut through the sentimentality or the fear or whatever false image of God I have and should be able to see him as the loving and forgiving Father.
- Penitence makes me able to learn—You can’t learn anything if you think you know it all. You can’t learn to be righteous is you think you already are.
- Penitence makes me aware of my need for God—The cry “O Lord make haste to help me!” is the cry of a person in need. We can only be given what we need when we ask for what we need and we can only ask if we first realize we have a need.
- Penitence opens my heart—The hardened heart is a fearful thing, and no one who is truly penitent can have a hardened heart.
- Penitence takes me to the heart of humanity—When I am penitent I see the whole human condition and therefore the whole of human culture, history and relationships from a new and amazing light.
- Penitence makes me humble
- Penitence brings me down to earth—Down where I ought to be.
- Penitence gives me joy—Sorrow first, then joy.
- Main benefit of Confession—It removes any false guilt I’ve been lugging around by reminding me that I’m forgiven.