We have reminded you on many occasions that the time set aside for confession of sin in our service is at the very beginning of the service. If we visit a friend’s house, we wipe our feet at the door, not two thirds of the way through the evening. This is a time be nourished and strengthened, not rebuked and scolded. This is a meal, not a confrontation. God is showing His kindness to us here; it is not a revelation of how stern He can be.
But this does not mean that the meal has nothing whatever to do with sin. In this meal, God is dealing with us. He—by showing us His kindness—is breaking up the fallow ground. And as the prophet Hosea says, “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you” (Hos. 10:12). When our ground has lain fallow, there are things there that need to be broken up, that need to be dealt with. This is not said so that you will try to seat the accuser here at the Table, but rather so that the Comforter will do His work. We come in the confidence that as we continue to worship God, He will—gradually, slowly, inexorably, and kindly—put everything right.
This could mean bringing hidden sin to light, but you do not need to assume that. Just trust Him to do what He is doing. Sow in righteousness, reap in mercy, and break up the fallow ground. God will grow the wheat that makes up this bread, and He will do it with the pleasant rain of righteousness.