I was in my early 20s when I first discovered Lent. I had heard about it before, but I hadn’t thought much of it, let alone celebrated it. Now, I can’t imagine a year without this season of reflection and repentance, climaxing in Holy Week and launching us into Eastertide.
Lent is an opportunity to reflect on our weakness and need – a focus that is so antithetical to humankind’s continual quest for perfection. We come to Christ not as perfect beings, but as broken individuals. If we ever lose our understanding of how broken and needy we are, we are truly lost.
The good news of the Gospel is that Christ knows our need, takes us as we are, and transforms us by His life, death, and resurrection into new people. Every time we engage in the discipline of confession, repentance, and restoration in Him, we are preaching this Good News.
In this spirit, I offer a new Ash Wednesday prayer and five new confessions (for the five Sundays of Lent), paired with and inspired by Scripture from Lenten lectionary readings in the Book of Common Prayer. I wrote these for my own church, and they are now available to you. Until the first Sunday of Lent, they are both half-price. Here’s one of the confessions:
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People: Father, forgive us for that which we have done and left undone,
Leader:
for wielding you as a weapon against our foes
instead of loving our enemies,
for chaining our eyes to the earth and its vanities
instead of opening our hearts to your Divine rule and reign.
for throwing our crosses aside
instead of bending our backs to their worthy weight.
You were not ashamed of us,
but took our feeble flesh upon You
and died in our place. We hesitate
to speak your name in polite conversation.
People: Lord, have mercy on us. Let your face shine again upon us.
Leader: Fill us with courage, Father, to cast off all the world offers
and take up suffering and humiliation with gladness, as those who have found
a deeper, wider joy. As we choose death daily, grant us eternal life.
People: May we speak Your Gospel in word and deed to a hungry world.