Liturgy 062: Feeble Forgiveness
🕊️ A Prayer and a Blessing to Peel Our Fingers of an Embittered Grip
📖 Lectio Divina
Then Jesus said,
”Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do.”
And the soldiers
Luke 23:34
gambled for his clothes
by throwing dice
If you, Lord,
Psalm 130:3
kept a record of sins,
who could stand?
🧘🏻♀️ Prayer
LORD
You taught me
to bless and pray
for those who have
persecuted me
and mine
This morning…
I will try
So help me LORD
May my clenching grip
of make-believe control
be loosened
May my lips
resist the sugar
syrup of slander
misshaping my soul
into grotesque obese
contorted cynicism
Grant me pure
spring water, flowing
from heaven’s streams
Until the ever expanding
compassion of my God
spills over into this
tiny speck of human history
I inhabit by grace
These 80 years
are a container
too small
to be bottled up
in ill humored wrath
May everything that has not
come from you
be emptied out
Oh God
My God
My hands are open
My mouth wide
May Compassion
be the Song
I hear and join
in the shower
on my commute
As I make
my feeble attempts
to forgive those
who have trespassed
against me, Christ Jesus
may I find your loving smile
Your Way is the Power and the Glory
Forever
Amen
🕊️ Blessing
Dear Friend
May you feel the delight of God
as you, like a child attempting to walk,
make your first Christ-like steps
of suspending judgment and
letting go of an embittered grip
May you feel the power of God
as you, like a child discovering her voice
speak blessing over those
who intended to harm you
May you rejoice, for
You are fearfully and wonderfully made
You are created to enjoy each breath
As a life lived with and within
the Father Son and Holy Spirit
In the Name of the One Worth Following
Amen