Addendum to "Quid Pro Quo Religion"

Recently I posted about my distaste for religion that expects God to intervene when people bring their problems to God. I said that God already did God's thing by allowing us "to be", and by giving us the ability to perceive the divine. The rest is pretty much up to us, I believe. We have a conscience, right? That conscience is God, speaking to us if we listen.

In this light, I said that I pray about two things: first, I thank God for my life and the greatness of all creation; second, I pray I will listen to my conscience and try to act in the spirit of the great commandment - love God, and your neighbor as yourself. But I left something out.

It's very telling that I forgot to mention confession. I don't always do very well with the first two prayers, so confession to God is important. Sins of commission and omission plague me. My thanks are too infrequent, and my choices are often poor. No one knows this better than God. I owe a bunch of "I'm sorry's", to recognize the omnipotence of God and my poor efforts to contribute to the plan that I perceive only dimly.

In considering "confession", I must also remember the great sins of our species - sins that I participate in or acquiesce to . War. Destroying the ecology of our planet. Letting people starve or die of preventable illnesses. The list goes on and on. As a group, we humans are often stray far from being partners in the creative nature of God. We, and I, share responsibility for all the ugliness in the world. We, and I, need to feel some real sadness about this shameful part of our nature. That is confession, and it is the start of making amends.

I'm sorry I overlooked confession. I'll try to do better.