Lent, A Time for Thanksgiving

Seeing ourselves Through God’s Eyes

Lent, A Time for Thanksgiving

I know that the idea of Lent as a time of thanksgiving may sound strange to some who understand this season of the Christian Year as a time for repentance and of giving up something that you really like with the belief that the sacrifice will make us better people or better Christians or at least stronger people.  So first, some of my history and then a look at The Litany of Penitence from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, page 267, the Ash Wednesday Liturgy.  This is a powerful exercise in prayer and reflection, which every year changes me for the better and forces/allows me to see the world and myself in a different way.

First, my history!  I lived for sixteen years in New Orleans, “the Big Easy,” “The City that Care Forgot,” home of everything from strippers to shrimp, from Mafia, to Mardi Gras, the largest two-week street party in the country.  As an Episcopal Priest and a person who enjoys “blooming where I am planted,” I participated in Mardi Gras “to the fullest:” parties and parades, crawfish and cocktails, Boudin and Bloody Marys, music and dancing, music and marching, music and…well, MUSIC!

So, by the time the clock struck midnight on Fat Tuesday and the police herded the last of the revelers off Bourbon Street, I was so ready for Ash Wednesday, for rest and reflection, and (as the prayer book says) “amendment of life,” that I was overjoyed with feelings of thanksgiving, not to mention the need to sleep just a little.  Simply put, Mardi Gras, at its best, prepares us not only for repentance, but also for the time and space for reflection and an awareness of the beauty of life and all of the people and events and opportunities in our lives for which we are thankful.

The other reason I have for giving thanks on Ash Wednesday is the opportunity to pray the Litany of Penitence.  I find that, through praying this prayer, I can focus on my relationships to God and to other people as well as my relationship with myself.  Before I share the entire Litany with you (thanks to the Book of Common Prayer) I want to reflect on my two favorite petitions from this prayer and leave them with you for your own reflection and thanksgivings.

These two petitions ask me to look at myself, at how I live my life and at how I treat others.

We confess to you, Lord, our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves.

Accept our repentance, Lord, for all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us.

These two petitions are so important to me because they reflect the way (at my worst) I deal with other people, all of whom are Children of God.  I either believe I am better than they are because they have more and, therefore, either do not share appropriately, gained it dishonestly, or simply believe they are better than I am because they do have more.  Or, I believe I am better than they are because I have more or am better educated (or certainly understand the world better) or, I believe that if they would just work harder, they would not be so different and we just might get along better (once they were more like me than different from me).

I leave you with these brief reflections and the entire Litany for your prayer and reflection.  I pray that it will lead you to live into Lent as a time of Thanksgiving as well as a time of Penitence.

Litany of Penitence

The Celebrant and People together, all kneeling

Most holy and merciful Father:
We confess to you and to one another,
and to the whole communion of saints
in heaven and on earth,
that we have sinned by our own fault
in thought, word, and deed;
by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

The Celebrant continues

We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and
strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We
have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us.
We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved
your Holy Spirit.
Have mercy on us, Lord.

We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the
pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation
of other people,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those
more fortunate than ourselves,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and
our dishonesty in daily life and work,
We confess to you, Lord.

Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to
commend the faith that is in us,
We confess to you, Lord.

Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done:
for our blindness to human need and suffering, and our
indifference to injustice and cruelty,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our
neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those
who differ from us,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of
concern for those who come after us,
Accept our repentance, Lord.

Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us;
Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great.

Accomplish in us the work of your salvation,
That we may show forth your glory in the world.

By the cross and passion of your Son our Lord,
Bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection.

The Bishop, if present, or the Priest, stands and, facing the people, says

Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
desires not the death of sinners, but rather that they may turn
from their wickedness and live, has given power and
commandment to his ministers to declare and pronounce to
his people, being penitent, the absolution and remission of
their sins. He pardons and absolves all those who truly
repent, and with sincere hearts believe his holy Gospel.

Therefore we beseech him to grant us true repentance and his
Holy Spirit, that those things may please him which we do on
this day, and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure
and holy, so that at the last we may come to his eternal joy;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Have a Blessed and Thankful Lent!

Ben