Lenten Litany
Great God of every blessing, we enter Holy Week,
waving palms and laying our coats on the ground, welcoming you with honor and
praise.
Yet we forget what a dramatic subversive political
act this is—ushering in a king, a herald of peace wrought by the commitment to
love without ceasing. A king who challenges the violent power of Empire.
L: We forget all that has brought us to this day.
Your voice came from the heavens and named Jesus your Beloved, the one with
whom you are pleased.
R: And immediately the Spirit drove Jesus into the
wilderness. And we followed, ready to face the wild beasts living inside us.
You offered you love,
L: And we were safely wrapped in our distractions
of “busyness,” in our technologies, and in our worries about others so that we could
not find you.
R: We were closed off from your love, wrapped in
our feelings of unworthiness, trying too hard to be perfect.
L: We tortured ourselves with guilt and anxiety
about the future so much that we got lost in nothingness.
R: Fear and anger, resentment, hate and depression
darkened our vision. We got lost in the discord in our political discourse
L: Ego, pride, idolatry, and jealousy made us deaf
to your loving words.
Our hearts hardened, closing us off to your love. We
were not open to the direction you offered.
R: O God, we are tired. The ghosts of our former
selves have haunted our dreams, and we wake up each morning not knowing how to
move forward.
ALL: But love is patient; love is kind; love is not
envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way;
it is not irritable or resentful; Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but
rejoices in truth.
ALL: Love bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. And now faith, hope, and
love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
Then Jesus was drawn to the temple where he turned
over the tables and drove out the money changers.
He scolded the people for seeking God in the temple.
For they were unaware of the gift you had for them in Jesus himself. He was
your presence in the world.
We followed Jesus into the temple, ready to clean
out the things from our lives and our hearts that distract us from you. You
offered your love,
L: But we went looking for it in the material
things that surround us. Our minds were focused on money or health as we grasped
for security and control in the world.
R: We went looking for you in the things of the
world that scared us and caused concern. We were stuck in the past where we
felt more comfortable, when the world was more familiar.
L: We looked for you in our destiny, but only
because we thought we could control it. In truth, we were afraid of a future
that belongs to you because we’d have to take risks.
R: We looked for you in comfort, in predictability
and routine, in others’ expectations, in old ways of thinking and the
“important” things we needed to do.
L: And just as Jesus cleared out the temple, you
invite us to clear out inaction and over thinking.
R: To clear out our fear of failure, and the
clutter around us, and the longing for sanity, and unhelpful bad habits.
L: To clear out egotism, hate in our hearts, fear
of rejection.
R: To clear out former agreements and having all
the answers.
L: And the camels along with the gnats.
ALL: Many waters cannot quench love, neither can
floods drown it. If one offered for love all the wealth of one’s house, it
would be utterly scorned.
As Jesus prepared for the cross, betrayed by his
followers, left alone to die, we followed. We faced our deepest fears that keep
us from experiencing God’s love. You offered love,
L: But we were afraid of losing control, of being
less than perfect, of not being seen or heard.
R: We were always doing the right thing because we were
afraid of making mistakes.
L: We were afraid of not meeting expectations and
afraid of failure.
R: Afraid of being yelled at, of being open, of
sharing, of talking -- why can’t we just talk?
L: We were afraid of commitments to new
relationships and not being good parents.
R: Afraid of the place where we live, of planting
roots, for this is for now.
L: Afraid of quicksand.
R: Afraid of gun violence as we’ve seen in Columbine,
Sandy Hook, and Marjorie Stoneman Douglas.
ALL: There is no fear in love, but perfect love
casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not
reached perfection in love. We love because God first loved us.
Before Jesus’ death, he tells a story of the seed
that lives and the seed that dies falling to the ground. The seed that falls on
the ground produces new life.
We are called to follow Jesus not only to death,
but to a resurrection life.
You offered love, you even wrote your words on our
hearts.
L: And we ignored the community’s brokenness from
entitlement, from uncertainty about the future, in people who lack support.
R: We forgot the Good Samaritan, instead choosing the
roles of the Priest and the Levite.
L: We were too busy to pray for those with needs:
abuse, health, housing.
R: And too obsessed with caring for ourselves that
we forgot to take care of others in our world and in our community.
ALL: I will put my law within them, and I will
write it on their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be my people.
Gathering together, the night before Jesus died, he
served his disciples, his friends. He washed their feet with care, nourished them
with bread, and poured out his love through the cup.
Yet he knew, even after that intimate meal, they would
still turn their backs on him, betray him, and deny him. They would protect
their own bodies at his expense.
L: We, like the disciples, were certain we would
not betray Jesus, and yet day after day, we participated in an Empire system
that breaks hearts and souls and bodies.
R: An Empire that tempts us to live in fear and
scarcity instead of hope and abundance.
ALL: But the is good news is this: There is
forgiveness in the resurrection. New life is always possible. God is still in
control.
ALL: For God so Loved the world, that God gave her
only Son, so that that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have
life eternal.
ALL: Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment