It is late in the day, friends, but here's a confession/absolution and a prayer of the day for tomorrow (Lent 2a). These are meant to complement/augment the John 3 text. I made a fun translation of the text that you might also want to use. Just click here.
As always, copy-left, please use freely for worship or personal devotion. And if you'd be so kind, cite this page--and let me know how it goes.
Oh! And if you are having trouble reading this on your phone, turn your phone so it is horizontal. That should do the trick.
Peace and Love, all.
[ image source ]
Remembrance & Approach
Holy Spirit, you are Love. And love is what you do.
Holy Spirit, you are Love. And love is what you do.
In the beginning, over the Face of the Deep, you scoured. And you loved it! Oh, how you loved it! The Void, the Deep was your first home and friend!
Holy Spirit, you are Love. And love is what you do.
The waters stretched on forever and ever. And yet, you thirsted for more. More to love. More with whom you could share. More into whom you would breathe your breath, bringing the lifeless to life.
Holy Spirit, you are Love. And love is what you do.
So, to us, you gave birth: spirit and flesh. Waters and wind and earth. Seas and skies and all that lies beneath. We arrived. And you named us. All of us, you called Good. Good and Very Good.
Holy Spirit, you are Love. And love is what you do.
Confession
Born of Love, love is what we were created to do. Prophets and poets, teachers and neighbors: again and again, you sent them. To remind us! Still, so often, we lost our way.
You even sent the Son. “Turn around! Turn around!” you said. “Return to love. Abandon your judgment and greed, your hoarding and hating; repent from your neglect of the hungry and poor. Turn to Love. For, you are born of Love. And love is what you were created to do.”
We are born of Love. And love is what we were created to do.
We are born of Love, the Spirt, the Wind, the Breath that brings life.
And yet, into systems and societies where love has become distorted, we are also born. And so we’ve become distorted, as well. Mammon we trust more than people or God. Instead of chasing the Spirt, we chase after things that make us waste away. We stumble. We fall. We fail. We are human. And we are in pain.
We are born of Love. And love is what we were created to do.
Absolution
No, Nicodemus, we cannot return to the womb. But the same Spirit, Wind, Breath, Life–that scoured the ocean thirsty before history had begun–is alighted upon you now. In love, she is happy to embrace you. To heal you. To forgive you where you have harmed. And when you are ready, she is happy to send you out again: new, reborn of Love and of Water and of Wind.
We are born of Love. And love is what we were created to do.
Siblings in Christ and in Creation, we may fail. But God’s love never does. There is nothing that can separate us from God’s eternal and everlasting love. We are forgiven. We are loved. And we are birthed anew, today and every day. May it be so! Amen.
Prayer of the Day
Holy Spirit, you are wind. Help us to breathe you in. Holy Spirit, you are fire and Love. Burn in our hearts until all of Creation is healed and whole and home. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment