Ash Wednesday (5)
The Litany of Penitence
Celebrant
"Most holy and merciful Father,
we confess to you, to one another,
and to the whole communion of saints
in heaven and on earth,
that we have sinned by our own fault
in thought, word, and deed;
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart, and min, and strength. We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves. We have not forgiven others and we have been forgiven."
Response
Have mercy on us, Lord.
Then what follows is a litany of confession with responses
"Have mercy on us, Lord"
"We confess to you, Lord"
"Accept our repentance, Lord"
"Hear us, Lord, for your mercy is great."
I really want to reflect on this litany but I don't have time. I have just finished a very busy week and am heading into a trip early tomorrow morning. I really need to go to bed. But I also need to make sure I am willing to confess and repent of my own sin. This evening I was tired and irritable .... especially with Noah. It is interesting how from a distance, sin seems to bad... unwise....selfish...etc. But when you... I mean I.... am sinning, it often seems like the most logical or appropriate thing to do given the circumstances. This is one of the reasons that I love public confession of sin. It gives us distance on our sin. It helps us acknowledge it...agree with God that what I did/didn't say/think/do was sin. Confessing our sins alongside others also make us wrestle with forgiveness. Do we receive forgiveness for ourselves? Can we believe that Jesus' death really did atone for us? We may have no problem believing it for others... those who are right beside us praying the same words. So then why not us? Good question that I will leave you to think about.
Finally, I want to encourage you that we don't have to wait for Lent or even for Sunday to confess our sin. We can always approach God's throne of grace to find His mercy.
blessings,
Tracy
Celebrant
"Most holy and merciful Father,
we confess to you, to one another,
and to the whole communion of saints
in heaven and on earth,
that we have sinned by our own fault
in thought, word, and deed;
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart, and min, and strength. We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves. We have not forgiven others and we have been forgiven."
Response
Have mercy on us, Lord.
Then what follows is a litany of confession with responses
"Have mercy on us, Lord"
"We confess to you, Lord"
"Accept our repentance, Lord"
"Hear us, Lord, for your mercy is great."
I really want to reflect on this litany but I don't have time. I have just finished a very busy week and am heading into a trip early tomorrow morning. I really need to go to bed. But I also need to make sure I am willing to confess and repent of my own sin. This evening I was tired and irritable .... especially with Noah. It is interesting how from a distance, sin seems to bad... unwise....selfish...etc. But when you... I mean I.... am sinning, it often seems like the most logical or appropriate thing to do given the circumstances. This is one of the reasons that I love public confession of sin. It gives us distance on our sin. It helps us acknowledge it...agree with God that what I did/didn't say/think/do was sin. Confessing our sins alongside others also make us wrestle with forgiveness. Do we receive forgiveness for ourselves? Can we believe that Jesus' death really did atone for us? We may have no problem believing it for others... those who are right beside us praying the same words. So then why not us? Good question that I will leave you to think about.
Finally, I want to encourage you that we don't have to wait for Lent or even for Sunday to confess our sin. We can always approach God's throne of grace to find His mercy.
blessings,
Tracy
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