1 Comment

  1. Erica C.
    March 10, 2011 @ 5:36 pm

    Appreciated being together to confess and mourn, Restoration. Not to wallow, but to honestly admit that I come up short, WAY short. It was a great capstone to the beatitude lessons. Singing with the sweet voices of two boys floating over my pew added just the right sweetness to the time as well.

    The Litany of Penitence offered a walk through concentrated confession and a bridge to volitional sadness. I know I’m sinful, I realize I have shortcomings. Such admissions usually only get me to the ‘mad’ stage—or as the Litany termed it, “Anger at my own frustration.” Sometimes I find it hard to camp in confession long enough. The frank terms of the Litany were so helpful: deaf to your call, past unfaithfulness, impatience of our lives, dishonesty in daily life, intemperate love, negligence. It doesn’t leave wiggle room for rationalizing.

    The final petition, “Accomplish in us the work of your salvation” also rang true. Most often my efforts are vain attempts to alter myself—a task the Holy Spirit alone can accomplish in my heart. That reminder brought me relief after the glaring truth of my insufficiency. Not only is salvation the Lord’s but the hard work and success of it is His too!

    Grateful for such a purposeful evening and, as David mentioned, for the right beginning, before the praying, giving and fasting days of Lent.

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