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I'm part of a small prayer group that uses the Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication format. When we get to the confession part, these women get very specific and sometimes very personal. It's imperative that what's said doesn't leave the room. I like what was said earlier about us needing to be trustworthy people. We can't control other people's mouths, but we can certainly keep our own closed when it is appropriate. This seems like a good time to say I am truly sorry for ever repeating something I should not have. I would like to be a person to be trusted. I think I have several trust-worthy friends and family.
I think that as Christians we are called upon to be that person someone can trust implicitly and confide in -- confess to. That's the other side of James' admonition, in the context of confessing to each other he didn't say "and talk about each other" he said "and pray for each other." (James 5:16)
It is a rare commodity, trust. I'm down to one person in the world I have been able to confide in and know it will go no further. Truly sad. A problem that haunts us is that we pretty much have to make clear and beg that what we tell/write folks not be passed on, or you can bet it will be. Sounds like a good idea for a signature line in emails, eh?
As for confession, John Lee said something at the 2 week meeting last year that sounded reasonable to me: the confession should be as public as the sin was. That would translate to keeping the confession as private as the sin is.
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