Life Together: Being the Body of Christ Small Group and Sunday School Curriculum Guide by Benjamin A. Simpson Week Five: Confession and Communion

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1 Life Together: Being the Body of Christ Small Group and Sunday School Curriculum Guide by Benjamin A. Simpson Week Five: Confession and Communion February 11-12, 2017 Lesson Overview In the concluding chapter of Life Together Bonhoeffer chooses to focus on two Christian practices: confession and communion. We will do the same. In confession, we acknowledge our common humanity to one another and admit that though sin remains, it does not reign over us. Our brothers and sisters, as they listen to us, pray on our behalf and pronounce to us the forgiveness of sin, assuring us of God s presence and love that is accessible to us in Christ. In John 20:23, the resurrected Jesus tells his disciples, If you forgive anyone s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. Christ has given us a commission and the authority to say to our fellow disciples, You are forgiven. To confess is to name or admit a wrongdoing. It is an admission of guilt. Too often within Christian fellowship we maintain the illusion that all of us are devout and free of failure. But this only isolates us and fosters hypocrisy. Confession brings us into contact with the truth. Bonhoeffer writes, You are a sinner, a great, desperate sinner; now come as the sinner that you are, to God who loves you...you do not have to go on lying to yourself and your brothers, as if you were without sin; you can dare to be a sinner. (111) Bonhoeffer names several effects of practicing confession. Confession dispels the darkness of our sin, shining a light that leads to freedom and true fellowship. Confession destroys all pride, humbling us as we name our sins before a sister or brother, admitting we can be overcome by sin and that we remain in need of the saving power of Christ and his cross. Confession makes a break with the past, and ushers us into Christ s new beginning for us. Confession also assures us of God s ongoing presence with us. Bonhoeffer writes, A man who confesses his sins in the presence of a brother knows that he is no longer alone with himself; he experiences the presence of God in the reality of the other person. (116) This is so because Christ dwells within our brother or sister, and ministers to us through the fellowship of Christian community. The very same brothers and sisters who hear our confession, pray for us, and bear with us are also those whom God has called together around the Table of Christ. In communion, we 33

2 celebrate what Christ has accomplished for each one of us as sinners who have received forgiveness, and look forward to the day when we will celebrate with Christ in his kingdom. In this lesson we will examine the meaning of confession and how it serves to strengthen and unite Christians together as a fellowship. We will then consider briefly how the practice of confession enriches our celebration of communion, or the Lord s Supper, and leads to greater joy within the community. James 5:13-20 Scripture Focus 13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. 17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. 19 My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins. Lesson Aim The student will define and attend to the Christian practices of confession and communion. The Point The Christian practices of confession and communion unite and strengthen the fellowship. Connect (10 to 15 Minutes) Help the class connect with one another, the key concept, and the God who gathers us together. Begin with prayer. 34

3 Offer an introduction to the lesson, using your own words. Say something like, We are in our fifth and final week of a study called Life Together. We are examining Christian community. During today s gathering we will ask and answer two questions. First, What is confession, and how does confession strengthen Christian fellowship? And second, What is communion, and how does the Lord s Meal bind us together? You may want to share The Point with those gathered or offer a summary of the Lesson Overview as a starting point for thinking about the nature of Christian ministry. You may also want to draw attention to the ivolunteer commitment cards and encourage members of your class to dedicate themselves to service. Prior to reading and examining the Scripture passage for this lesson you may wish to use the following option to facilitate connection and discussion. Share the following illustration: Four preachers met for a friendly gathering. During the conversation one preacher said, "Our people come to us and pour out their hearts, confess certain sins and needs. Let's do the same. Confession is good for the soul." In due time all agreed. One confessed he liked to go to movies and would sneak off when away from his church. The second confessed to smoking cigars and the third one confessed to playing cards. When it came to the fourth one, he wouldn't confess. The others pressed him saying, "Come now, we confessed ours. What is your secret or vice?" Finally he answered, "It is gossiping and I can hardly wait to get out of here." 3 Say something like, Confession is a word that we have likely heard within Christian fellowship. But how many of us are comfortable with the idea of confession, of naming those things we have done or left undone? We may be comfortable with the idea of confessing our sins to God. But do we confess our sins to our brothers and sisters in Christ and allow them to pray for us and to remind us that we have indeed been forgiven? Transition, saying, Today, we are going to look at a passage of Scripture that encourages us to confess our sins to one another, and we will explore how doing so unites us before the cross and actually strengthens our fellowship. We will also see how confession brings us to the Lord s Table, where we celebrate together what God has done for us in Christ. Cultivate (25 to 30 Minutes)

4 Help the class grow through engaging God s Word in Scripture. Set Up the Reading Prior to reading the Scripture passage, say something like, Our reading today is found in James, chapter 5, verses 13 to 20. James is a letter found in the New Testament and written by Jesus brother, who was an influential leader within the early church. Text Notes for Today James is considered a catholic letter (catholic means universal ), not addressed to a particular church or audience but intended for general circulation among Christian communities. James places a strong emphasis on living with deep faith in Christ and evidencing that commitment through action. James includes instruction on how to resist temptation, faith being evidenced by good works, relying on godly wisdom, being patient, and living a life of prayer. Our passage today includes a number of instructions, though our primary focus will be obedience to verse 16. Keep the following in mind when exploring today s Scripture passage with your class: 1. James s three questions in verses 13 and 14 are, Is anyone in trouble? Happy? Sick? Notice that the same three questions could be asked today. The Christian community consists of a variety of human experiences. James reminds us that when we are in trouble, we are to pray, when happy, we are to give thanks, and when sick, we are to come together as a community and provide care. 2. In verses 15 and 16 James does make a connection between some forms of illness and sin. Anyone who has lived with a guilty conscience knows that the stress associated with those feelings may be manifested in the body. The confession of sin can lead to physical and spiritual healing. 3. In verse 16 James says, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. Health is multidimensional, and includes the body, mind, and soul. 4. Verses 16 to 18 encourage fervent prayer, using Elijah the prophet as an example. 5. Verses 19 and 20 remind us of our responsibility to care for one another as part of the body of Christ. We are called to shepherd one another and to maintain the fellowship. Is anyone missing from your class? Seek them out. Discussion Questions 36

5 1. Ask the class if anyone has a personal example of the power of confession, either a time where the confession of sin helped them heal or drew them closer to God or to another person. 2. How does the practice of confession move us from isolation to community? 3. Bonhoeffer writes, Confession in the presence of a brother is the profoundest kind of humiliation. It hurts, it cuts a man down, it is a dreadful blow to pride. (114) How does confession humble us? How does it grow our appreciation for Christ s work on the cross? 4. What is the effect of hearing another brother or sister in Christ say to us, Your sins are forgiven? What is the effect of these words when our brother or sister knows our sins in concrete detail, rather than in an offer of abstract or general absolution? How might this connect to Christ s commission to us to forgive sins? 5. Why is confession linked to communion? Why do we name our sins before God and one another before gathering at the Lord s Table? How does this deepen the significance of the Lord s Meal? Challenge (10 to 15 Minutes) Help the class live differently as the people of God through obedience to Christ. Life Application As Methodism grew and progressed, John Wesley organized the movement at three levels: the society, class, and band. 4 The society was analogous to the local church, and included the entire fellowship. The class was akin to a small group or Sunday school gathering. And the band meeting was smaller and more intimate, consisting of pairings of married or single men and married or single women for the purposes of confession and mutual accountability. There will be two life applications this week. The first application is to invite members of your Sunday school class to form bands. This can be a one time experiment, or the first meeting in what may become a holy habit. Explain what a band is, and ask those who are willing to try this one time to raise their hand. Have each person identify a partner, preferably someone of the like gender (men with men, women with women), and ask them to exchange phone numbers or to set up a time and place to meet for coffee in the next week. Equip each band with the following three questions: 1. How is it with your soul? (How is your life before God?) 2. What known sins have you committed and what temptations have you been met with?

6 3. How has God helped or delivered you? Have each person ask the other these questions. Then, instruct each person to take time to pray, aloud, for the other. A second application for this lesson is to plan to celebrate the Lord s Meal as a class together. Bonhoeffer writes: The day of the Lord s Supper is an occasion of joy for the Christian community. Reconciled in their hearts with God and the brethren, the congregation receives the gift of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, and, receiving that, it receives forgiveness, new life, and salvation. It is given new fellowship with God and men. The fellowship of the Lord s Supper is the superlative fulfillment of Christian fellowship. As the members of the congregation are united in body and blood at the table of the Lord so will they be together in eternity. Here the community has reached its goal. Here joy in Christ and his community is complete. The life of Christians together under the Word has reached its perfection in the sacrament. (122) Plan to sit together on the same pew or in the same section the next time First Methodist celebrates the meal during the corporate worship gathering. Or, plan to take communion in the Prayer Room following a Sunday morning worship service. Communion takes place each week at the Encore service (5:30 pm on Sundays), as well as in the Prayer Room after each Sunday morning service. Communion is part of the Sunday morning worship services nine to ten times each year and monthly during the Saturday evening worship gathering, though neither are on a fixed schedule. Contact one of the pastors for a specific date if you plan to sit with your class during one of the weekend worship services. Remain mindful of the fact that these brothers and sisters share with you in the salvation offered by Jesus Christ, that each person is a sinner who has been forgiven by grace and who is loved dearly by God. And give thanks for these friends, and this meal, where you experience a foretaste of the heavenly banquet that is to come. Communal Prayer Father, your word tells us in 1 John 1:8-9, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We give you thanks for the gift of confession, where we might humble ourselves and admit our need for you, while also being reminded of the great gift of forgiveness that you have given us in Jesus Christ. Help us to be a people who confess our sins, turn toward you, and enter into the fullness of your joy. We also thank you for 38

7 the gift of communion, which we celebrate at the Table of Christ, and ask that the next time we partake of the one loaf and the one cup that you would deepen the love we have for one another and for you. Continue to grow us up in Christ and to equip us for his service. We ask these things in his name, Amen. 39