Refuge: Sin Series Book 2

Chapter 4

"Confess!"

Reverend Sam Clancy stood upright in his pulpit, arms spread as he gazed out onto his congregation. The pews were occupied by the regulars, the same faces he was accustomed to seeing every week, each sitting in their self-designated pews like students in a class. Clancy smiled down at them, taking in the men, women, and children, watching them react to his words.

"The confession of sin," Clancy spoke, lowering his arms and shifting his gaze from one blank face to another. The heat had really picked up in the past few days, and it was beginning to show on the townspeople. Clancy quickly brushed his brow.

"We all know that this is absolutely necessary to salvation," the Reverend continued. "Without a hearty and true confession, one that stems from deep within, we have no promise that we will find mercy."

Clancy smiled at the few nods of approval he received, his eyes scanning the crowd earnestly, as if letting them know that he was not unfamiliar to their sins. He knew their secrets, each and every one of them, spoken in hushed whispers during confession, coupled with 'Hail Marys' and begging for forgiveness. Clancy had been doing this for a long time, but he always looked forward to confession.

It gave him something to hold over their heads, and the people knew it. Sometimes, late at night, he would laugh about one confession or the other as he recounted the tales to himself. He would be sitting in his favorite chair, legs perched up and a glass of wine in his hand, talking out loud as if surrounded by an audience rather than the empty walls of his small house. The confessions were always amusing, and he relished in them.

"'He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy,'" the Reverend continued. "There is no promise of salvation in the Bible for those who do not confess. It is not there. Salvation and mercy lie in your true confession. Let it all out!"

He enjoyed the few flinches and shocked expressions from his congregation when he shouted that last line. He was prone to changing his tone in his sermons, a tactic he used to keep the people on their toes. Besides, he loved how his voice echoed throughout the church, bouncing off the walls in a deep baritone that would make teeth rattle.

"Confess," Clancy suddenly lowered his voice almost to a whisper, clutching the sides of the pulpit and staring into the eyes of the few people perched in the front pews. "But do not be fooled by false confession. Not every man who says he has sinned will receive blessings. There are marks in a confession, things that make it sincere and genuine in the eyes of our Lord. Some may say 'I have sinned' and receive forgiveness, while others say it and go away to blacken themselves with worse crimes."

The Reverend could see it in their eyes. The way the people stared back at him, some in tears, others visibly shaking, he knew that today's confession would be juicy. There would be stories tonight, and many of them, filled with sobs of remorse and cries of anguish as he would gently prod for the confessor to continue.

He thought back to his little black book that he kept hidden underneath his bed, his memoir of the most interesting of those confessions. He had been doing this for years, writing down everything he could remember - and his memory was exceptional in these matters - attaching name and date to every entry. There was an entire locked pantry reserved for volumes of these confessions, hundreds upon hundreds, tucked away and out of sight. Sometimes he would revisit them, flipping through the bounded pages and smiling as he read entries from years past. They never failed to amuse him.

Looking out upon the pale faces, he could see that there would be more to add to his journals tonight. He might even need a new one.

"I bring forward one example of the hardened sinner, the man who confesses only when under terror," Clancy continued. "As in the tale of Pharaoh, when Moses stretched his rod towards the heavens and the Lord brought down thunder and hail and fire. Only then did Pharaoh confess that he had sinned. Only then!"

The Reverend picked up his pace, pointing out to the faces staring back at him. "How many of us have fallen prey to this? To seek the mercy of our Lord when in dire circumstances. What is the value of our confession then? The repentance sought is so easily forgotten once the storm has passed, and to that there will be no mercy!"

Clancy smiled at the shocked faces of his congregation, a few crossing themselves while others hung their heads low in silent prayer.

"And what about the double-minded man?" Clancy continued. "The man who says 'I have sinned' and feels that he has, a true and genuine confession, but is so engrossed in the worldly that he 'loves the wages of unrighteousness.'" He waited for a beat before yelling out, "What about him? Does he deserve mercy?"