I publish a blog every day. I don’t write a blog every day. Sometimes, I have to write ahead such as when last Monday’s shoulder surgery was looming. In the process, I got ahead in our readings as well, so I decided to read the Gospel of Mark for a while. Always encouraging.

And I saw something obvious in chapter 1 that I’ve never focused on before:

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. (Mark 1.4, 5, ESV)

It’s an obviosity, as I said, but I’ve never paid attention before: “all…were going out to him…confessing their sins.”

We could use some of that in the US right now. Confessing sins is not what we do. We like to recite the perceived sins of others, but few of us are rushing to confess our own sin. Gambling, Alcohol abuse, illicit Sex are still the big three, I think, and we’re encouraged to do more, not confess. But there I go, reciting the sins of others. What about me? Lack of persistent prayer and use of time come to mind.

But just as I was thinking about these things, Peggy Noonan was watching the memorial service for Charlie Kirk. She wrote about the experience, opening with:

Halfway through it struck me the memorial might have been the biggest Christian evangelical event since the first visit to America of Pope John Paul II, in October 1979. He was a year into his papacy. “Be not afraid!” he said, and took America by storm.

At the memorial there was an altar call—at a public memorial for a political figure. It was singular, and moving. So was the dignity and peacefulness of the crowd. They didn’t indulge their anger or cry out against the foe. It was as if they understood that would be bad for the country. I couldn’t remember a time a big Trump-aligned group did that, as a corporate act, in the past 10 years. It struck me as a coming of age. They were taking responsibility. – Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal September 25, 2025

So maybe there is some confession going on, and if it starts with Christians, that’s a good thing:

For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4.17, ESV)

I heard a pastor/author when I was in college, J. Allen Blair, who quoted this verse and observed that “if judgment begins with believers, the outcome for unbelievers is that they will believe!”

Amen. Let the confession begin.