I’ve had people tell me I’m defensive, but those people really need to have their heads examined.  I’m the most open, non-defensive, easy-going, person you’ve ever met.  I’d just like you to name one instance in which I’ve been defensive… oh, never mind.  Defensiveness and prickliness are not pretty traits.  I’d deny being defensive and touchy if there weren’t so many witnesses who could readily contradict me.  Just being right is not a defense against defensiveness.  On the contrary, knowing you’re being falsely accused is pretty much the pre-condition of defensiveness. 

The inexhaustible fuel for our defensiveness is a two-part mixture.  One part is our righteous indignation about being called on the carpet for infractions we have not done.  The second part is our sure knowledge that there’s plenty of stuff we could have been caught doing wrong had our accusers been paying closer attention.  The Psalmist expresses it more poetically:

More in number than the hairs of my head
    are those who hate me without cause;
many are those who would destroy me,
    my enemies who accuse me falsely.
What I did not steal
    must I now restore?
O God, you know my folly;
    the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you. 
(Psalm 69:4-5)

My enemies accuse me falsely and I complain bitterly to God.  But I dare not make the complaint without fessing up to the truth God already knows – that I am not completely innocent. 

On those rare occasions that our defense actually convinces our audience, even this doesn’t leave us feeling fully vindicated.  We are like defendants who are acquitted at court, not because we’re without guilt, but because we were charged with the wrong crime.  If the prosecutor knew the truth about us, there would have been no problem getting a conviction.

Every now and then, someone will object that we ought not to start our worship with confession of sin – it’s such a downer.  I get that, but I think it’s also an opportunity for us to be honest with ourselves, with God, and with each other.  In fact, I appreciate the traditional confession that begins, “I confess before Almighty God and you, my brothers and sisters…”

We can really be a family of love and care for one another when our pretenses and defensiveness are set aside.  We know the truth about one another and ourselves.  We don’t need accusers and defenders, pointing fingers and stammering excuses.  We need to just be who we are, brothers and sisters who trip and fall from time to time and who could use a hand getting back on our feet.

Prayer:  Merciful God, you know our faults and failings.  In Christ, you came among us to make us whole, not to condemn us.  Grant that we might continue in Christ’s healing mission.  Amen.