Second Sunday in Lent 2012, Year B

By Raphael Ra (Flickr: Bluford 20 Steller's Jay)
[CC-BY-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Today's gospel reading is Mark 8:31-38.  In light of the content of Saturday morning's post, you might imagine how hard this reading hit me.

I read Sunday's readings on Saturday night, after writing my earlier post about neglecting Bible study.

My first reaction, to Mark 8:31-38, was what a horror it would be to have Jesus ashamed of you.  Right on the heals of that realization, was the thundering awareness that verse 38 implies that one cannot separate Him from his words, and that, on some level, being ashamed of Him and his words might just be what I had written about shortly before. Not directly, not overtly, but in terms of neglect.

The General Confession in The Book of Common Prayer includes admission of sins committed by "what we have done, and by what we have left undone".  I love that. It doesn't let you off the hook.  It requires true examination of conscience, and confrontation of responsibilities.

So then, as usual, I have some amending to do this Lenten season.

With joyful gratitude for the grace of Christ which washes us clean through faith, I pray you have a blessed Sabbath day.

Pax Christi,
~Michelle

This is Part two of a series.
Part 1 is here.
Part 3 is here.

~~~~~~~

The remainder of today's readings are here (RCL), here (Catholic), and here (Greek Orthodox).

The General Confession, Rite II, Book of Common Prayer, 1979 {PD}:
Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your Name. Amen.

Lest we forget the absolution:

Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all your sins 
through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all 
goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us 
in eternal life. Amen.

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