Author: Jeff

To the Holy and Righteous God –

We have offended you and wronged you countless times, but you have forgiven us of our massive debt. Yet in our pride and selfishness, we refuse to forgive others, choosing to hold grudges and demand payment for debts we cannot collect.

Forgive our unforgiveness, and teach us to remember not only the debts we wish to collect, but the debts we owe.

We seek to honor your word, but often choose only the parts we want to hear, pretending you are silent when it is more convenient or more pleasant.

Forgive us for pretending we are better than we are, and teach us to be more honest with those around us, with you, and with ourselves.

We have ignored the cries of the desperate and hurting, forgetting you are the defender of the poor and oppressed. Like Ananias and Sapphira, we pretend to give more of ourselves than we really do.

Forgive our deception, and teach us to listen to those around us, and act with your passion.

We have placed our convenience above your commandments, forgetting the call of Jesus to love our neighbor as ourselves. We seek to rationalize ways around your will, refusing to follow in your footsteps unless we gain something, just like the crowds who came to Jesus because he gave them something to eat.

Forgive our greed, and teach us to release our own desires into your hands, and take up yours.

We have become proud and haughty, claiming to be the sole guardians of truth. We defend truth so much that we drive people away from your message of reconciliation.

Forgive our pride, and teach us to remember that we are only lowly servants in your kingdom – all honor and glory is reserved for you alone.

We are too often blinded to our mistakes and shortcomings. We pretend that all is well in our lives, and overlook sickness in our souls. We attempt to give first aid to those around us, but ignore the terminal illnesses we live with each day.

Forgive our myopia. Teach us to look first at the plank in our own eye, before we attempt to remove the speck from our brother’s eye.

For the places we fail but do not know, forgive us.

et iterum venturus est cum gloria
judicare vivos et mortuos
cujus regni non erit finis.
amen.

As we contemplate Christ this season, I have been drawn again and again to the words of an old carol, and have been inspired anew by the truth and message they present to us of the mission and purpose of Christ:

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His Gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His Name all oppression shall cease.

When I reflect on the beauty of these words, they seem to me to bring together the essence of Christ: his teachings, his principles, his Good News for our lives, and his promise of a new world where peace and freedom overcome oppression and domination.

As we come to Christ, each born into a world of domination – constantly existing in a society that tells us we are insufficient – His message and Gospel proclaim that Christ breaks the chains of the oppressed, and that he brings peace to a hurting world; his law of love standing in such stark contrast to the law of greed, selfishness and pride that consumes so much of our lives.

In the midst of this season, may we each strive to be a part of the story of Christ, participating in his life and mission as a continuation of his incarnate body, rejoicing with those who rejoice, mourning with those who mourn, caring for those in need, listening to those around us. May our lives also be described by the words above – that we would bring Good News of peace to all we meet, inviting them to relationship with the Savior – a Savior not only of yesterday and tomorrow, but for today.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy Name!
Christ is the Lord! O praise His name forever!
His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!