Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness.
In your compassion blot out my offense.
O wash me more and more from my guilt
and cleanse me from my sin.
My offenses truly I know them;
my sin is always before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned;
what is evil in your sight I have done.
That you may be justified when you give sentence
and be without reproach when you judge.
O see, in guilt was I born,
a sinner was I conceived.
Indeed you love truth in the heart;
then in the secret of my heart teach me wisdom.
O purify me, then I shall be clean;
O wash me, I shall be whiter than snow.
Comments
THIS, I thought is how we should all experience "sin." Suddenly, a new perception.
As much as I have acknowledged my sin and asked forgiveness, it was still there. It remained acknowledged but unconverted, never transformed. As the psalmist says, "My sin is always before me."
Today, I realized how quick God is to forgive and bring home. Mercy follows sin so closely. God is so ready to forgive that it's less than breath away from our identifying sin. Like an Oreo cookie, they are nearly inseparable. As soon as we admit we've turned away and strayed, God is there. More likely, he never left.
I thought of Adam and Eve leaving and being banished from the Garden of Eden — but God was already bringing them home. Right away, in the beginning of scripture, Genesis 3:15, sin is overcome: "He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." In English, all that separates it is a comma.
As Nehemiah 9:17 says: God, you are merciful and quick to forgive; you are loving, kind, and very patient. So you never turned away from them—
It is The Balance. Maybe it's even more the coupling. Fr. Mark talked about the humility to admit our sin alongside swift forgiveness. I don't think we can truly understand one without the other.
Is this quantum entanglement?
[Margie, I hope you will answer me!}
I like this story
There was a little girl in a small town in the Philippines who said that Jesus speaks to her
She shared spiritual wisdom and insights way beyond her years.
Her local priest was so amazed that he asked the Cardinal in Manila to meet her
The Cardinal was doubtful.
The Cardinal still met with her .
He asked a bunch of questions.
He was impressed with her spiritual insight but did not believe that Jesus spoke to her.
He decided to ask the little girl this question:
what did I confess to Jesus in my last confession?
The little girl closed her eyes and was silent
The Cardinal felt that she would now be exposed - That Jesus did not speak to her.
Finally, the little girl opened her eyes and smiled.
The Cardinal asked his question again
what did I confess to Jesus in my last confession?
The girl smiled and said , “ Jesus said that he forgot.
I am forgiven and my sin will not be remembered by God, however,
I have sinned
I am sinning
I will sin
I will dim the glory of God in me from being in His image.
I am sinner
I have been redeemed
I am being redeemed
I will be redeemed
I am loved by God.
I am a sinner loved and redeemed by God
Math Luther’s quote; Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly.”
How might I become more aware of God provided opportunities to act and love boldly and humbly?
Pam - I'm need to ponder the idea of acknowledged yet unconverted sin. Confession vs. repentance? Hah, the overcoming of sin in Genesis 3:15 was separated only by a comma.
Eubie - I liked the "I am forgiven and I am sinner" reflection, the continuity of the tenses. Have you read the book Sin Boldly by Cathleen Falsani. I had a similar reflection this morning to act and love more boldly and humbly. Well-worded.
My relationship with God. My relationship with my various (often unruly selves). And my relationship with Reality.
I got to that last word...reality and thought ”That is way too complex to understand!” Then realized WHAT ABOUT GOD!!! But, relationships are not Head things to be understood. They are Heart Things to be appreciated, welcomed and enjoyed. So I am beginning to feel that it is essential that I maintain a child/parent relationship with God. Asking for blessings and help and expanding and cleansing and forgiving! I am a veritable PigPen of mistakes, sins and falling short of the glory of God. Indeed, be PIGGY! This is not Selfish. This is Humility! More for me is not less for others. REALLY? YES!
Now, as a child, God encourages me to keep on trying and failing...falling is essential to learning to walk. We learn by doing...
So the key blessing for me in this first week was having God name my Sin as failing to TRUST GOD ENOUGH. Failing to open to God’s help! To ASK and KEEP ON ASKING. To have enough faith in GOD to obey and pray for those in authority over me! To ask God to bless and love them! Not to fix them. And then I could see, golly, I needed to be blessed and loved too.
As God longs to do....but I had to feel it...see it...ask for it...and receive it.
Absolutely, acceptable to respond to someone else's post.
Blogging etiquette for our specific blog?
Comments should always be from a personal point of view, not to judge or correct. Nothing negative Does a comment strengthen, encourage and comfort (comment in line with the Holy Spirit)? Does it expand on or help bring light to an idea?
I think it would be helpful to discuss what we're seeing, learning, understanding to help aerate and synthesize. When our thoughts come out into the open, they are often transformed because they are put into context - like what happens in oxidation.
How to do this? Hmmmm. We could continue doing it here. Or we could set up a Zoom. Thoughts and preferences, anyone?