James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
One thing I have felt about Vineyard ReCovery, since day one, was that it was suppose to be a place where people felt safe. Not safe to hide in their sin or dark secrets, but safe that it would be a place of honesty and transparency. I wanted to open the door to those who may have been marginalized by their addiction so that they could encounter this Jesus I talk about. What better way to do so than being able to confess to one another, our deepest secrets. One of the sayings that I heard at Rapha all the time was "You are only as sick as your secrets.
The teaching may not always been earth shattering on Saturday night.....
The worship may have a few wrong notes, and forgotten words......
But never....
never....
never can we open the door and not love each other....Part of truly loving each other is to confess and receive forgiveness.
Whether it is a fist-timer to VRC, or someone who is part of the core leadership...
VRC is about being a place where no one has to hide their true self. No one has to play a "religious" game of appearing to be something they are not.
But it is a place where we made aware that we are all "Busted" and in need of God to put us back together. Think of it like this....Our physical body needs the healing touch of God to relieve us of whatever condition we may be suffering with. How much more does the spirit inside of us need the healing that comes with confession, repentance and forgiveness? Our physical body will eventually die and return to the dust, but the spirit man lives forever.
Saturday night after the service, I had something happen that seemed small at the time, but it made real all these things I wanted VRC to be. A person approached Vicki and me, asking if they could speak to us. What transpired was wonderful. This person came and confessed something they'd been carrying around for a while. This wasn't a superficial confession. This was a heart-felt-sobbing-get-this-off-your-conscience kind of confession. God brought much healing and release to this person. The weight of the world was now gone. They left feeling put back together and ready to push forward. As we prayed together, and hugged each other, the person told me that God WAS healing them. They confessed that they struggled with confessing their sin..afraid of what we might think of them. All those doubts and fears and shame faded into the night when forgiveness came.
Driving home, I was thinking of what had just transpired when it suddenly hit me like a ton of proverbial bricks. VRC had become that place that I felt God wanted all along. A place where we did confess our sins. A place where people were healed of the shame and guilt of carrying around all their sin baggage.
Thank you, Father....
Thank you for it all....
God on you....
mbb
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