Email from Church of the Redeemer

Morning Devotion for the Season of Lent

February 24, 2023

Invitatory

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

The Lord is full of compassion and mercy: Come let us adore him.

Reading - Psalm 51:1-10

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness; *

in your great compassion blot out my offenses.

Wash me through and through from my wickedness *

and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions, *

and my sin is ever before me.

Against you only have I sinned *

and done what is evil in your sight.

And so you are justified when you speak *

and upright in your judgment.

Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth, *

a sinner from my mother's womb.

For behold, you look for truth deep within me, *

and will make me understand wisdom secretly.

Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure; *

wash me, and I shall be clean indeed.

Make me hear of joy and gladness, *

that the body you have broken may rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins *

and blot out all my iniquities.

Meditation - Winnie Smith

People do not like the word sin. It conjures up feelings of guilt, images of fire and brimstone. “We’re not that kind of church - we’re not focused on sin and repentance. We’re focused on love!”

I am an odd ball in that I love sin. Not the act of it - I don’t mean that I love to sin. But for me, being aware of my sinfulness and participating in confession every week makes me all the more grateful for God’s grace. I sin, but my wrongdoing never outweighs God’s grace and ability to forgive.

Our Catechism, in the back of the Prayer Book, defines sin as “the seeking of our own will instead of the will of God, thus distorting our relationship with God, with other people, and with all creation.” Sin is when we put ourselves above God, when we focus on our world instead of the world. Reading Psalm 51, we tend to make this mistake. We read the words as a commentary on us rather than on God. It makes sense that we would - we heard these words just two days ago Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. In that service, we also acknowledged our “wretchedness” - it is a liturgy that we can easily make all about us and our unworthiness of God’s love. But that service and this psalm are much bigger than us.

Read, again, how the psalm begins: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness; in your great compassion blot out my offenses.” The first verse is about God, not us. I may be the speaker, I am acknowledging my own faults, but it is God’s actions that will change the outcome. God seeks us, wants to be in relationship with us, wants to know us despite our sinfulness. “For behold, you look for truth deep within me, and will make me understand wisdom secretly.” God does not count our mistakes, keep a tally of the sins we have committed. God does not look back in some effort to balance the scale, to make us pay for the specific wrongs we have committed. We do that. We think of this scoreboard and of God as the referee.

Perhaps this Lent, we can read Psalm 51 not exclusively as a confession of our sins, but as a reminder of God’s abundant grace. Sin happens - we are all guilty of it. But we need not be consumed by our own sin, by each individual wrong choice we’ve made and every error. Instead, when we think of our sinfulness, let’s follow God’s lead and instead of looking back, of recounting our behavior, look forward instead. And let us do so gratefully, in the knowledge that our sins - no matter how numerous - cannot compare to God’s grace.

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy Name,

thy kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those

who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

for ever and ever. Amen.