REFLECTIONS ON THE CONFESSION OF SIN

God of all mercy,

We confess that we have sinned against you,

Opposing your will in our lives.

We have denied your goodness in each other, in ourselves,

And in the world you have created.

We repent of the evil that enslaves us,

The evil we have done,

And the evil done on our behalf.

Forgive, restore, and strengthen us

Through our Savior Jesus Christ,

That we may abide in your love

And serve only your will. 

Amen.

            I am coming across this confession of sin more frequently in worship lately.1  It caught my attention the very first time I said it because of the repentance for “evil done on our behalf,” which strikes me as a very apt description of our societal treatment of animals who are not our pets. If only, I find myself thinking, those saying the confession had the vaguest idea that there was anything to confess in regard to their diet, their wardrobe, or their entertainment.  This line continues to pull at me each time I see or hear this confession, but it seems to me there is a great deal more here that relates to animals worth reflecting on.

            “God of all mercy.”  Let’s start here.  This is the God to whom we pray when we say this confession.  We start that way because it is the very nature of confession to recognize that we are in need of mercy and forgiveness for a wrong done.  Can we ask for mercy if we are unwilling to show it to those in our power who have done no wrong?  

The Prodigal Son, Salvator Rosa

            “We have sinned against you.”  When we support or ignore mistreatment of God’s creatures, we sin not only against those creatures, but against the One who made them, cares for them, covenants with them, and entrusted them to our care.

            “Opposing your will in our lives.” The creation stories in Genesis, and so many other aspects of scripture, tell us that it is God’s will that we care for his non-human animals as He would – that we reflect His loving, sacrificial image to the creation.  When we insist on our “greater value” over the animals and the presumed benefits that attach to such an exalted position, we misunderstand the nature of power and we oppose God’s will for how we are to live and move in the world.

            “We have denied your goodness in each other, in ourselves, and in the world you have created.”  Among the “others” here whose goodness we have denied are our fellow sentient creatures of God; including those to whom we rarely give a thought, like those who wind up on our dinner plates, or on our backs or our feet.  They are not automatons; they want to live; they know fear and pain as well as happiness and contentment.  They form relationships and like to play.  They, like us, are dependent on God’s mercy and they carry with them God’s goodness.

            “We repent of the evil that enslaves us.” Ours is a world so conditioned to viewing animals as means to human ends, or pests to be exterminated, that we are not even aware of it; nor are we aware of the colossal impact we could have if we would just make a few changes in our lives.  When we are (righty) horrified at learning of the cruelty of Asian dog meat markets, and express our dismay during a dinner of pork chops and potatoes au gratin, we are unaware of the irony.  We need to make a conscious effort to free ourselves from participating in animal cruelty, and it is a journey.  So pervasive is the exploitation of animals in our food, clothing, cleaning supplies, make-up and other personal products, entertainment – even the sources of our pets – that it requires an effort to see what we are doing, and to understand we can do better.  Fortunately, there are many resources to help us.

            We repent of “the evil we have done.”  Because most animal abuse is institutionalized and far removed from our eyes, and because we are conditioned to want the things that come from animal abuse, we are all participants, although most of us are unaware.

            We repent of “the evil done on our behalf.”  If we do no more than learn about the misery of factory farms (meat, eggs, and dairy), animal transport, and slaughterhouses -- for both humans and the animals we call food -- this line will leave us barely able to breathe. 

            “Forgive, restore, and strengthen us through our Savior Jesus Christ, that we may abide in your love and serve only your will.” If we will reflect on Christ’s message of mercy, compassion, and loving sacrifice, if we will “have this mind in us that was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5), we will find that the more we are able to extricate ourselves from these systems of cruelty, the more closely we can abide in the love of God and live according to His will.

            It is a journey, and we all are in need of confession and forgiveness.  I pray each day for God to help me continue to move in the direction of compassion and mercy for my fellow humans and all my fellow creatures. I also pray that the church will help us all understand these lessons.

1.  This confession is not in the Book of Common Prayer, but is found in another Episcopal worship guide, Enriching Our Worship.