Archives For Ash Wednesday

Litany of repentance for Lent

February 23, 2012 — Leave a comment

At our church’s Ash Wednesday service last night, we were reminded, along with Christians down through history and all around the world, that we are dust, and to dust we will return. We were also reminded of our hope.

We made our way through a litany of repentance from the Book of Common Prayer and I hope to pray through it every day during Lent. Because it has so much to do with the big themes I explore here on the blog, and because it’s a rich, deep litany, I thought I’d share it with you too:

We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.

Have mercy on us, Lord.

We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit.

Have mercy on us, Lord.

We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives,

We confess to you, Lord.

Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation of other people,

We confess to you, Lord.

Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves,

We confess to you, Lord.

Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and our dishonesty in daily life and work,

We confess to you, Lord.

Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to commend the faith that is in us, 

We confess to you, Lord.

Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done: for our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty,

Accept our repentance, Lord.

For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us,

Accept our repentance, Lord.

For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us,

Accept our repentance, Lord.

Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us;

Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great.

Accomplish in us the work of your salvation,

That we may show forth your glory in the world.

By the cross and passion of your Son our Lord,

Bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection.

 

In Gospel , , , , , , , , ,
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Hello from the side of a volcano

February 18, 2010 — Leave a comment

I am sitting at a small table beside a window in Casa Shalom, home of the Doziers and office for ADE. Outside, rain and fog; lots of it. On a clear day the window offers a vista of lush green rainforest, sprawling down into the valley and up the next volcanic ridge. The slope below me, I’m told, morphs brilliantly into an improvised tennis-golf course. Believe me when I say the trash talking has begun.

ADE’s education center isn’t too far from here; a ten or twenty minute walk depending on which direction you’re going. To get there you walk a few minutes along the main road, then down a pretty steep driveway of red volcanic rock, across a river in the rainforest that will take your breath away, and eventually to a small clearing in the valley. The original owner of the place brought in the building supplies by ox cart. That is where I’ll be sleeping.

The past couple of days have been a chance to relax a bit, so all I’ve been able to do is meet the priest, attend Ash Wednesday mass, eat a potato-filled ‘enchilada’ from the local panadería, meet the students from our school, participate in a couple of ADE team meetings, attend a meeting with the town council, go to an evening service at the local evangelical church, and translate the remaining parts of the ADE website into Spanish.

Once the skies clear a bit I’ll get out there with a camera, and as the days progress I trust I’ll have taller tales to tell.

In Culture , , , ,
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