<\/p>\n
Updated 02\/28\/17<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve confessed a lot of sin in the last month. Not because I\u2019ve committed more than usual, but because it\u2019s been in Lent. I worship in chapel at least twice a week and at my church on Sunday mornings. That\u2019s a lot of prayers of confession. I\u2019m more aware than usual of the things I\u2019ve done I ought not to have done, and the things I haven\u2019t done which I ought to have done.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s one sin these prayers haven\u2019t prompted me to confess.<\/p>\n
I was reminded of this sin during a conversation with my fifth-grade son. It\u2019s a difficult age. The pressure to fit in and be accepted is great. He told me, in so many words, about his pain at wanting to be wanted by others. And it\u2019s a very small step from feeling not wanted by others, to feeling not worth<\/em> being wanted. The consequence? Self-rejection.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t need to tell me that last part. As a pastor, I\u2019d seen it again and again, and I\u2019ve felt it myself. As Henri Nouwen has said, \u201cSelf-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life.\u201d<\/p>\n But when are we led to confess that <\/em>sin? We are often prompted to confess the sin of pride, that supposedly ever-present over<\/em>-estimation of our worth. Last week, one of those many prayers of confession had us admit that we \u201care misled by pride, for we see ourselves as great when we are small.\u201d<\/p>\n Unfortunately, too many of us see ourselves as small<\/em> when God sees us as great<\/em>\u2014created \u201ca little lower than God\u201d and crowned \u201cwith honor and glory,\u201d as Psalm 8 tells us. The sin of self-rejection\u2014the persistent under<\/em>-valuing of ourselves\u2014prevents us from delighting in God\u2019s very delight in us.<\/p>\n \u201cSelf-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the \u2018Beloved.\u2019 Being the Beloved expresses the core truth of our existence,\u201d says Nouwen. He knew the damage of self-rejection from experience, as do more people than our prayers of confession would make us think. Lent would be a great time for the church to help us give voice to this sin, tutoring us out of this false view of ourselves.<\/p>\n During this Holy Week many of us will have the chance to sing the hymn, \u201cWhat Wondrous Love Is This.\u201d The last time I sang it, one verse struck me:<\/p>\n Many souls are sinking down beneath this false-image of a frowning God. I increasingly believe that if God is frowning, it\u2019s because we\u2019ve been unable to see the smile of God\u2019s delight. Christ laid aside his crown to free our souls from these false images of ourselves and of God, so that we might enter at last the joy of God\u2019s joy in us.<\/p>\n Maybe next Lent (or maybe before then?) we\u2019ll get to confess this overlooked sin. Maybe we\u2019ll be invited to say something like this:<\/p>\n The Rev. Dr. L. Roger Owens is associate professor of Christian spirituality and ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and teaches courses in the MDiv, Doctor of Ministry, and Continuing Education programs. Before coming to PTS he served urban and rural churches for eight years in North Carolina as co-pastor with his wife Ginger. He has written multiple books including <\/em>The Shape of Participation: A Theology of Church Practices which was called \u201cthis decades best work in ecclesiology\u201d by <\/em>The Christian Century.<\/em> Updated 02\/28\/17 I\u2019ve confessed a lot of sin in the last month. Not because I\u2019ve committed more than usual, but because it\u2019s been in Lent. I worship in chapel at least twice a week and at my church on Sunday mornings. That\u2019s a lot of prayers of confession. I\u2019m more aware than usual of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[82,100],"series":[],"class_list":["post-1665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ministry","category-protestant-spirituality","tag-lent","tag-self-rejection"],"yoast_head":"\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down,<\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>when I was sinking down, sinking down,<\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>when I was sinking down beneath God\u2019s righteous frown,<\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>Christ laid aside his crown for my soul, for my soul,<\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>Christ laid aside his crown, for my soul.<\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>Smiling God, forgive us<\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>for not being able to see your delight in us,<\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>for living lives misled by self-rejection,<\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>and for persisting in the illusion that we are nothing.<\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>Forgive us for treating ourselves and others as if that illusion were reality.<\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>Cleanse our vision so that we can begin to see ourselves<\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>as you see us\u2014beloved children, the apple of your eye.<\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>Set us free to enter into the joy you take in us,<\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>a joy made flesh in Christ, through whom we pray. Amen.<\/p>\n<\/code><\/code><\/code><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"