Tag Archives: sin

A prayer for how I err

Help me remember, God:

you are not a doctrine,

you are not a denomination,

you are not anger,

you are not hate,

you are not violation and violence,

you are love.

As I live, God, I

I know I will fall short.

I will err.

Guide me so that when I err, I do so

on the side of welcome,

on the side of inclusion,

on the side of justice and mercy,

on the side of equity,

on the side of grace

on the side of love.

I pray in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

adapted from an educational slide created by Laura Zhang Choi

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Filed under Friends, Prayer

Lent 2017, day 13

“From slavery to mass incarceration, factions of the church in America have paid silent witness here to the injurious principles and powers which paralleled the insidious behaviors in South Africa. … let us acknowledge the sin of our past and present, invoking the power of the Holy Spirit to mature us to unity and the full stature of Jesus Christ.”
John C. Welch
Lenten Reflections on the Confession of Belhar

God grant us strength
to confront principalities and powers;
to disrupt sinful structures and systems;
and to live into the unity you desire.
Amen.

This Lenten season I am using a new resource to explore the Belhar Confession: Lenten Reflections on the Confession of Belhar, edited by Kerri N. Allen and Donald K. McKim. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), in which I serve as a teaching elder (pastor), added the Confession of Belhar to our Book of Confessions in 2016. This confession came from the Dutch Reformed Mission Church during its historic struggle against apartheid in South Africa.

See you along the Trail.

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