-Prayer of Confession
Eternal God, we live in a time when truth is sold like snake oil – dressed up to suit vague promises of ease that prop up pride. We hear histories told backwards, shuffled and reconstructed to assure us that the ideas we like best are at the heart of who we’ve always been. Patchwork identities prod us into worlds that are so narrow that everything outside seems false, absurd. It’s not enough to be Christian; we must be real Christians. We can’t simply be Americans; we are expected to prove we are real Americans.
Merciful Lord, it’s exhausting to respond to these fractured tests of loyalty. It’s as tempting to disengage completely as it is to fall headlong into the fray – the anger and arrogance whose howls demand our attention. Wash away the noise, O God. Tear away what needlessly binds us so we can focus on hearing your voice and living so that people can see the love of Christ in all that we say and do.
-Assurance of Pardon
My friends, Jesus is the author of grace. He didn’t spend his days demanding the impossible and condemning folks who didn’t measure up. He didn’t tell different truths to suit different situations. He welcomed people who had been excluded. He preached the good news of God’s love, whether his message was easy for people to hear or it confronted them with things they didn’t want to admit. We were not formed from the dust by God’s own hands, baptized in Christ’s holy name, to live a pass/fail existence. We are graded on a curve – the cross that transformed death into everlasting life. Fear not: in Christ we are forgiven, redeemed, and set free. Amen.
Image credit: “Acrylic Waves of Washington DC” by Nicolas Raymond, 2014. See https://www.flickr.com/photos/82955120@N05/
