Bishop Eric Menees
As we continue our examination of the 2019 Book of Common
Prayer, we’ve transitioned into the Daily Offices and specifically Morning
Prayer. Last week, we examined the beautiful invitation to approach the throne
of God. We do that first and foremost by recognizing our sinfulness and our
need for reconciliation with God and one another.
This beautiful confession harkens back to the Elizabethan
language of the 1662 BCP but with slightly updated language. For example, “...we have erred and strayed from your ways
like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own
hearts” accurately describes my daily journey and I suspect it does for
most of us. Too often, I am like a lost sheep walking in error and straying
from the path. My own desires and my deceiving of myself lie at the heart of my
separation from Christ. I cannot deceive Christ, but I can deceive myself and
others. Thus, we confess these things before the Lord and ask for his
forgiveness.
But more than that I have indeed “offended” i.e. broken
God’s holy law. I have knowingly and unknowingly done those things I should not
have done and I have not done the things I should have done. This is
reminiscent of St. Paul’s statement in his epistle to the Romans:
15 For I do not understand my
own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16
Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So
now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know
that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to
do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the
good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do
what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
Romans 7:15-20
“And apart from your
grace, there is no health in us.” Archbishop Robert Duncan tells us that
this was added to underscore the importance of God's grace at work in all of
our lives. As Christians, it is imperative that we recognize the depth of our
own depravity that keeps us apart from God. However, with God and through his
grace we have become adopted children of the King of Kings and thus princes and
princesses. We seek reconciliation and God’s grace in order to help us live
into our new identity in Christ Jesus!
And so we cry, “O
Lord, have mercy upon us. Spare all those who confess their faults. Restore all
those who are penitent, according to your promises declared to all people in
Christ Jesus our Lord” in the certainty of God’s love and mercy. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John
1:9)
Why do we do this? So that we may live “godly, righteous and
sober lives” that glorify God. Which is the very point of a Christian life
itself!
What a blessing each morning to come before the Throne of
Grace to confess our sins so that we may live lives that glorify God!
Almighty and most
merciful Father,
we have erred and strayed
from your ways like lost sheep.
We have followed too
much the devices and desires of our own hearts.
We have offended
against your holy laws.
We have left undone
those things which we ought to have done,
and we have done those
things which we ought not
to have done;
and apart from your
grace, there is no health in us.
O Lord, have mercy
upon us.
Spare all those who
confess their faults.
Restore all those who
are penitent, according to your promises
declared to all people
in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, that
we may now live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of your holy
Name. Amen.
I pray you all a very blessed day!
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