A Confession
Living in England right now, I’m living in a different culture than America.
Living in England right now, I’m living in a different culture than America. I’ve also been married for nearly three years now, and so much of my life is different.
Different in my outlook.
Different in going through my questions and challenges.
Different even in going to the grocery store.
Praying a prayer like this Litany may feel strange for some of us. Maybe a bit foreign or uncomfortable.
As you may know, I’m a minister in the Anglican denomination. Part of our practice is to use liturgy, like written prayers, to help us focus and confess our selfishness and sins. This one, The Litany, is called a confession.
Part of the reason I’m sharing it has to do with its focus on human relationships, especially between us as men and women. The more I live, and now as I experience the closeness of marriage, I’m aware of how broken, how divided, and how selfish we can sometimes be to each other.
And it doesn’t necessarily have to be simply between men and women.
It can be between women and women.
Or men with men.
Or a group of people with another group of people.
Or a country with another country.
Or a religious group with another religious group.
Our divisions seem more exposed than ever before. Maybe that’s hyperbole. Or maybe it trends towards the truth.
I’m not a sociologist, but I am observer and listener. And the more I watch. And the more I listen, the more I’m aware of not only the way we are divided, but also the way our words and actions often leave us with a view of one another that doesn’t dignify or bring us together, but dehumanizes and divides us.
So, as we pray this next section together, let’s ask God to show us how we dehumanize and divide others through our thoughts, words, and deeds by what we say and how we act:
For our greed which exploits the work of human hands and lays waste our earth: Father forgive us.
For our indifference to the plight of the imprisoned, the homeless, and the refugee: Father, forgive us.
For lacking to understand the pain of others: Father, forgive us.*
*Adapted, Litany of Reconciliation. For the original visit https://www.coventrycathedral.org.uk/reconciliation/reconciliation-ministry/litany-of-reconciliation]
