Leo Tolstoy and Confession

Matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers – Sunday, April 16, 2017

Leo Tolstoy and Confession

We remember Leo Tolstoy for his magnificent novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina. However, that is not all there is to Mr. Tolstoy. He wrote short stories, and essays, showing how much success and equality he had with the peasants. He held everyone of great value; it did not matter to Tolstoy, in the larger town and area where he owned a large amount of land.

I could tell more about the fair and equitable way—the progressive way—Tolstoy treated the workers on his property. But, I wanted to focus especially on the moral tone of Tolstoy’s writing. He underwent a crisis of faith, became even more devout, and “became still more preoccupied with moral questions.” [1]

This excerpt comes from a set of Tolstoy’s religious essays, an essay called The Lion and the Honeycomb. He was concerned about the prevalence of drinking, smoking and using opium: in other words, “Why Do Men Stupefy Themselves?” He thought that a person’s conscience ought to be able to keep them on the straight and narrow.

Ah, he talks about the consequences of intoxication! Such a sad thing. He was a century too early. If only he had been around when Alcoholics Anonymous was founded, Tolstoy could have spread the word so much more quickly and given countless people knowledge of what options they had for intoxication and for alcoholics and addicts.

And, yes. Of course there is a spiritual deadness in people who are addicted to substances. God—the Higher Power—is often something they do not want to face, and neither is the inner conscience, the moral law, the moral dilemma. “Life does not accord with our conscience, so we bend our conscience to fit life.” [2]

Gracious God, dear Higher Power, thank You for continuing to show caring individuals—like Leo Tolstoy—that You do not abandon Your children, no matter how deeply they may be involved with addiction. Thank You! Lord, for giving abundant life. amen.

@chaplaineliza

Like what you read? Disagree? Share your thoughts with your loved ones and continue the conversation.

Why not visit my companion blogs, “the best of” A Year of Being Kind.  #PursuePEACE. My Facebook page, Pursuing Peace – Thanks! And, read my sermons from Pastor, Preacher Pray-er

[1] Spiritual Classics, edited by Richard J. Foster and Emilie Griffin. (San Francisco, California: HarperSanFrancisco, 2000), 240.

[2] Ibid, 241.

As We Confess Our Sins, in Prayer

Matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers – January 19, 2015

As We Confess Our Sins, in Prayer

Confession. What an archaic thing to do, some people say! I’m pretty okay, you’re well-adjusted now. Many of us are finding out the old “sins” of the past can be explained away by psychological means.

What will the people in the pews, the common, ordinary believers, do now? With the “sins” of the past being explained away, sin, itself, becomes minimized down to a minor, nagging difficulty (sort of like a splinter or a stubbed toe).

Wait a minute. That’s not what God says, or what the Bible says. Remember verses such as Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” or 1 John 1:8, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” I suppose those and similar verses could be brushed aside.

There is the opposite predicament. Sort of like a pendulum swing. What about those individuals who feel that they are so sinful that God cannot stand to have them attend worship? Or even pray?

Instead of praying and communicating with God, there is the option of fulfilling faulty, human desires, following those seven deadly sins. (Lust! Greed! Gluttony! Anger! Envy! Just to mention some of them.) These are gods—with a lower case ‘g’—instead of God. These are ways that people lose themselves in things and ways of being that are far removed from God.

On this day when many remember Martin Luther King, Jr., he spoke of different gods (with a small ‘g’). He gave an excellent example of the human predisposition of running after these false gods. He told of a god of science, the god of pleasure, and the god of money, among others. He finished this section with “these transitory gods are not able to save or bring happiness to the human heart. Only God is able.” [1]

This has been the Gospel message throughout the centuries. Embrace God. Flee evil. Love neighbor. Do justice. We orient our minds and actions toward God, towards service and communication with God. I try to live life and to be responsible for my thoughts, words and actions. I try to experience the fruit of the Spirit in my life and the lives of others. And, as God is my witness, I try to confess my sins.

Like what you read? Disagree? Share your thoughts with your loved ones and continue the conversation.

Why not visit my sister blog, “the best of” A Year of Being Kind.

[1] James Melvin Washington, ed., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. (San Francisco, HarperSanFrancisco

Remember, Ashes to Ashes

matterofprayer blog post for Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Penitence – Larry Poncho Brown

Remember, Ashes to Ashes

Rush, rush. Hurry, hurry. I’ve been doing so much already, it seems like a day-and-a-half has been packed into just a few short hours. Yes, most of what I’ve been doing today is quite necessary. But what does God want from me today? I really ought to slow down and check in with God. See what I need to do to help my spiritual self stay right with my Higher Power.

Today marks the beginning of Lent, the 40-day period of preparation before Easter. Today is also Ash Wednesday, a day of holy penitence, confession and absolution. I take the Lenten observance of the cross of ashes on the forehead as a serious, penitential act. But I find I’m not acting like it today. Sure, I’m doing necessary stuff, busy stuff. But I need to slow down. Do some inward reflection on my habitual thoughts, words and deeds. And most importantly, I am advised to do some inward reflection on the state of my soul.

First, before I can even confess my sins of thought, word and deed, and then even ask for God’s forgiveness (much less accept it into my heart and mind), I need to slow down enough to focus on spiritual things. I need to attend to things of God, and not to be distracted by the world. Or even by needful, necessary things that take my eyes off where they need to be. God, help me focus on You, on your forgiveness, grace and mercy.

As I turn to inward reflection, meditation and prayer, I also reflect upon Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. After all, He is the reason that I am here, in prayer. His words to us—to me—to come to Him with our—my heavy burdens. It is Jesus who gives rest to the weary, the sinful, the world-worn. To those burdened with care, with worry, with anger, with unforgiveness, with resentment. God invites me to release all those negative, worrisome mental states and attitudes. God blesses me with the forgiveness of those sinful thoughts, words and deeds of commission (what I’ve done) as well as omission (those I have neglected to do).

Instead of merely writing about confession, forgiveness and pardon, all intellectual-like, let’s actually do it. Let’s pray.

Dear God, We confess to You that we have sinned. Each of us has stubbornly turned to our own way, like those sheep Isaiah talks about. Forgive me, God. Wash me clean, make me white as snow, dear God. Have mercy on me—on us, in Your loving-kindness. Thank You for the Good News of the Gospel, and for the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. God, in Your grace and mercy, hear our prayers.

@chaplaineliza