Confession is awesome

I just want to say that the Sacrament of Confession is awesome. What a gift from the Man Upstairs. It's like surgery, or a hot shower. I'm reminded of a talk I once attended by theology professor Douglas Bushman, in which he talked about Martin Luther's concept of God's love. He said:

In the Lutheran concept of God's love, man is a dung heep. And God's love is a snow that descends over the dung heep and covers it up. Now this may sound scandalous, but I have no interest whatsoever in that kind of love. When I walk into a doctor's office with cancerous tumors all up and down my arms, I don't want a doctor who's going to put a sweater over me and tell me problem solved. I want a doctor who's gonna take the pain away.

He then told the story of a visit that he once made to a doctor, for that purpose. When he went in to see the doctor he found out in the course of their small talk that the doctor had a keen interest in the writings of Thomas Aquinas. In fact, the doctor was able to illuminate passages that up to that point Mr Bushman found quite obscure. Upon discovering this, their relationship went from a doctor-patient acquaintance to a mutual friendship.

This is rather like our relationship with God. I know that when I first go to God, I do so because I need someone to take the pain away. And I know he's the only one who can. But when I go to him with my pains and anxieties, I discover that there is really so much more to him than the mere utilitarian function of healer. He is not just our doctor, he is our friend and our Father. The one who gives life to us. We discover that there is so much more love to be experienced, so much more truth to swim around in.