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The Sacred Practice the Church Abandoned — and Why We Still Need It
How Psychology, Christian Mysticism, and Modern Therapy Are Recovering Confession’s True Purpose
I once sat across from a man who couldn’t say the thing he’d come to say.
He fidgeted, stared at the floor, started half-sentences, and swallowed them again. Finally, after what felt like forever, he looked up and whispered, “If I say it out loud… I’m afraid I’ll fall apart.”
He said it like it was a problem. But I’ve come to believe it’s the beginning.
I’ve heard versions of that moment dozens of times now — sometimes in therapy sessions, sometimes in men’s groups, sometimes in a back pew after church. The words change, but the ache is always the same: I’ve been carrying this alone for too long.
And it makes me wonder: why don’t we have more places where we can fall apart on purpose?
Once upon a time, the Church had one. It was called confession. And say what you like about its history — its abuses, its baggage — at its core, it was a radical idea: that you could tell the truth about your darkness in the presence of something bigger than your shame. That you didn’t have to clean yourself up before speaking. That being broken wasn’t the end of…
