There's a line in the confession of sin that always gets me when I say it, "things left undone." I don't think I ignore those parts of me that are not nice, but I also don't sit in that stew and sulk. Yes I should not rationalize those not so great aspects of me, the inability to speak up all the time when something is truly evil. The fear of alienating a friend. The anger and frustration I experience with myself and others.
The Ash Wednesday liturgy has a Litany of Penitence which names a good chunk of it.
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.
.
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.
.
We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the
pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives,
Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation
of other people,
.
Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those
more fortunate than ourselves,
Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and
our dishonesty in daily life and work,
Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to
commend the faith that is in us,
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,
For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our
neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those
who differ from us,
For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of
concern for those who come after us,
Sadly this probably leaves some stuff out. The challenge is to look deeply and work hard to stop doing these things. Yes there are things I do really well, and I need to remember them but not at the expense of ignoring the places where I still have some if not a lot of work to do.
Blessings,
Ed
No comments:
Post a Comment