BLOG 11/17/17. “SEARCH ME, O GOD, AND KNOW MY HEART”

Do you know what? I find Senator Al Franken’s confession of his sexual molesting of a young colleague . . . to be most refreshing (his confession,mind you, not the molestation) . Does that sound crazy? No! Senator Franken, when confronted with that episode did not deny it, did not equivocate, did not dissemble or make excuses, but rather was most forthright and candid in saying essentially: “Yes, I did it. I apologize. It may have been intended to be funny, but it is inexcusable, as are all assaults on women.” And then, he welcomed examination by the senate ethics committee. Wow! Would that all his colleagues were that honest and transparent.

And further, Al Franken is, by heredity, a Jew (though admittedly, not a practicing Jew), and his forthrightness is a compelling testimony to the teachings of the Psalms, like: “Search me, O God … and see if there is any wicked way in me.” It is the questionable motives and self-righteousness of his critics in the press and in congress that are more distressing. If the secret sins, the misdemeanors, and peccadillos of such were made public, it would pretty much leave few standing.

The Biblical records don’t allow for any claims of sinless-ness, but it is full of promises of grace for those who come forward and confess their sins. The Psalms are attributed in large part to the iconic King David of Israel. David seems to have always had an oversupply of testosterone, and was, admittedly, quite sexually active. But an episode in his mature years in which he committed adultery, and then tried to hide it by having Bathsheba’s husband murdered, comes to mind. The prophet Nathan confronted him with the sin, and David’s heartfelt contrition is recorded for us in Psalm 51. That heartbroken candor in acknowledging how his sinfulness separated him from God is poured out: “I acknowledged my sin to you, and did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm 32:5).

That is precisely what Senator Franken has done. That same principle of transparent honesty about our sinfulness is also a New Testament foundation stone: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins …” (I John 1:8 ff.). Every time many traditional Christian communities gather for worship, there is just such a mutual acknowledgement/confession that we are a community of grace, of real bona fide sinners: “We have done those things we ought not to have done and left undone those things we ought to have done. There is no health in us. We are most miserable offenders. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy, Lord, have mercy.”

So, with the members of congress. Who of them would like to have made public the ways they have sought to destroy their political opponents, or accepted pay-offs from PACs, or engaged in dubious sexual encounters? Who has nothing in their past of which they are ashamed? But Senator Franken demonstrated the Jewish-Christian open-ness to confess, and welcomed the judgment of the ethics committee. I do find that most refreshing. May he be an example to the rest. And, if the people of Minnesota are not convinced, they have opportunity to replace him in 2020, but they are unlikely to find one so transparent as he.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer had strong words for those who wanted to be in a Christian community in which there were no real sinners. There is none such. Thomas Merton chided those monks looking for the perfect monastery. We live with reality. We come to God as those who in all kinds of expressions reveal ourselves of those who have sinned and come short of the glory of God. God’s forgiving grace is given to those who begin with such a confession. “Search me, O God!”