In the Episcopal Church, we make our confession together every Sunday. I have been making this confession since I started going to church in 2017.
This week my confessional smacked full force into me.
It was these two lines that totally did it--
“By what we have done, and by what we have left undone”
Empire Christianity tells us that sin is concrete.
It is sex before marriage,
it is adultery,
it is gluttonous,
it is wrong.
I take an unorthodox view of sin.
I don’t believe it is that concrete. I believe that the real sin is going against our true nature and not following our hearts. The sin is listening to the ego fully, without leaving room for listening to intuition. When we don’t leave room for the messages that have been placed on our heart, then we stop engaging in magic and creation.
Sin is staying closed off to the dreaming of it.
If we start to look at our lives in this manner, it creates expansive opportunities for healing and growth. You begin to heal your heart and soul when you confess your worth to yourself and to the divine.
We heal the choices we have made and give ourselves the opportunity to forgive ourselves for going against what we know to be right in our hearts. And, we give each other permission to follow through with our commitments to ourselves and not leave things undone.
I offer you this prayer (yes, it is also a magic spell 🔮) to foster healing and open you up to transforming your shame.
Loving spirit, today I promise to do my best in all that I attempt.
I will love myself with my whole heart.
I will allow myself to flow and hold myself with compassion.
Loving creator, I forgive myself for being mean to my body, mind, and spirit.
I pardon and deliver my spirit to love myself again.
Blessed be.
So mote it be.
Amen.
Yours in transfiguration.
Xoxo,
Dr. Melissa Bird