Precious: Lent Daybook 15

Take a few deep breaths, settle your body, mind, and heart into a quiet space, and let’s begin with prayer.

Opening prayer: Heavenly Father, make me more like Jesus and more like the true self you’ve created as I savor your loving presence today. Please guide my thoughts and impressions by your Holy Spirit. Amen.

Look: A line of children’s clothing signifying the children who died at a residential school, one of many where the Canadian government forcibly enrolled at least 150,000 Indigenous children to assimilate them into Western ways. (Kamloops, British Columbia, June 19, 2021), Amber Bracken for The New York Times - Source

Artist’s Statement: “For decades, the Canadian government swept up the children of Indigenous people and put them in residential schools to wipe out their culture. Amber Bracken photographed the aftermath.

The Kamloops community had been doing its own investigation into the location of unmarked graves at residential schools, and had found 215 little persons that had not been accounted for. Those outfits represent the children who died from abuse or neglect when they were in the residential schools. The nation decided to put in these crosses. It was right next to a very busy freeway. It had been gloomy and rainy all day when I was on my way out there. By the time we got to the highway there was a rainbow. The end of the rainbow was in the orchard where the bodies were found. You could feel the rawness of the moment for people who came to pray or offer respects.”

Listen: - Death Song Lament, R. Carlos Nakai - Spotify | YouTube

Read: Psalm 72; Psalm 119:73-96; Genesis 42:18-28; 1 Corinthians 5:9-6:8; Mark 4:1-20

Excerpts:

“Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to a king’s son. May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice. May the mountains yield prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness. May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor….

For he delivers the needy when they call, the poor and those who have no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence he redeems their life; and precious is their blood in his sight.

*

My soul languishes for your salvation; I hope in your word. My eyes fail with watching for your promise; I ask, “When will you comfort me?” For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, yet I have not forgotten your statutes. How long must your servant endure? When will you judge those who persecute me? The arrogant have dug pitfalls for me; they flout your law. All your commandments are enduring; I am persecuted without cause; help me! They have almost made an end of me on earth; but I have not forsaken your precepts. In your steadfast love spare my life, so that I may keep the decrees of your mouth.

*

On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: if you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here where you are imprisoned. The rest of you shall go and carry grain for the famine of your households, and bring your youngest brother to me. Thus your words will be verified, and you shall not die.” And they agreed to do so. They said to one another, “Alas, we are paying the penalty for what we did to our brother; we saw his anguish when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this anguish has come upon us.” Then Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you not to wrong the boy? But you would not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood.” They did not know that Joseph understood them, since he spoke with them through an interpreter. He turned away from them and wept; then he returned and spoke to them. And he picked out Simeon and had him bound before their eyes. Joseph then gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to return every man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. This was done for them.

They loaded their donkeys with their grain, and departed. When one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his money at the top of the sack. He said to his brothers, “My money has been put back; here it is in my sack!” At this they lost heart and turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?”

*

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral persons— not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since you would then need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister who is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber. Do not even eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging those outside? Is it not those who are inside that you are to judge? God will judge those outside. “Drive out the wicked person from among you.”

When any of you has a grievance against another, do you dare to take it to court before the unrighteous, instead of taking it before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?…

But you yourselves wrong and defraud—and believers at that.

*

And [Jesus} said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy. But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing. And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

*

The Lord exists forever; your word is firmly fixed in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast. By your appointment they stand today, for all things are your servants. If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my misery. I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life. I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts. The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I consider your decrees. I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad.”

Pray: On Wednesdays, we'll pray the Confession and Litany of Penitence from the Ash Wednesday service in the Book of Common Prayer. Include the specific names of people and places that come to mind as you pray. If you are able to pray this with someone else, one of you can pray the unbolded words and then pray the bolded words together.

If possible, offer this prayer while kneeling.

Let us humbly confess our sins to Almighty God.

Silence

Most holy and merciful Father, we confess to you, and to one another, and to the whole communion of saints in heaven and on earth, that we have sinned, through our own fault in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. 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.

Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.

For all our unfaithfulness and disobedience; for the pride, vanity, and hypocrisy of our lives; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.

For our self-pity and impatience, and our envy of those we think more fortunate than ourselves; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.

For our unrighteous anger, bitterness, and resentment; for all lies, gossip, and slander against our neighbors; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.

For our sexual impurity, our exploitation of other people, and our failure to give of ourselves in love; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.

For our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our intemperate pursuit of worldly goods and comforts; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.

For our dishonesty in daily life and work, our ingratitude for your gifts, and our failure to heed your call. Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.

For our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.

For our wastefulness and misuse of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you

For all false judgments, for prejudice and contempt of others, and for all uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.

For our negligence in prayer and worship; for our presumption and abuse of your means of grace; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.

For seeking the praise of others rather than the approval of God; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.

For our failure to commend the faith that is in us; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.

Show favor to your people, O Lord, who turn to you in weeping, fasting, and prayer. For you are a merciful God, full of compassion, long-suffering, and abounding in steadfast love. You spare when we deserve punishment, and in your wrath you remember mercy. Spare your people, good Lord, spare us; in the multitude of your mercies, look upon us and forgive us; through the merits and mediation of your blessed Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Silence

Stand for the remainder of the prayer, you might consider holding open your hands as a gesture of receiving God’s forgiveness.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who in his great mercy has promised forgiveness of sins to all those who sincerely repent and with true faith turn to him, have mercy upon you, pardon and deliver you from all your sins, confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, and bring you to everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Hear the Word of God to all who truly turn to him: If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1-2)

The Peace of the Lord be always with you. And also with you.

Share God's peace with someone else as you return to your day.

Do: On Wednesdays through Lent, consider fasting from spending money, and feast on giving alms instead. 

Almsgiving is a traditional Lenten practice. This week pray that the Lord would show you his face in the most distressing of your neighbors, and lead you to ways that you can show compassionate mercy. 

Let each necessary purchase remind you of the reality of our complete poverty and helplessness before God and without the work of Christ.

You might also find helpful: Lenten Disciplines: Almsgiving

*Sunday Scripture readings are taken from Year C of the Book of Common Prayer 2019 (Anglican Church of North America). Daily Scripture readings are taken from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and include both Morning and Evening Psalms (Year 2).