Lent is a 40-day spiritual journey of self-examination and prayer. It began on Ash Wednesday, February 14th. The Ash Wednesday service contains a Litany of Penitence on page 285 of The Book of Alternative Services. I always find it very moving and helpful in thinking about my desire to be more attentive to God. Where have I drifted away? Where have I willfully looked away? Where have I harboured unforgiveness even while I have asked God to forgive me? The Litany touches on so many ways in which we need to repent and return to God’s love.
• We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbours 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 judgements, for uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbours, 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,
Some people use Lent to develop new holy habits and others to make necessary changes to old habits. May this Lent draw you into the love and purposes and grace of God.
