sin

to learn repentance and avoid sin

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment

Photo by fauve othon on Unsplash

 
Lord Christ, grant to us your servants 
    the blessing of learning the discipline of repentance.
And as we learn repentance, 
    it is also good for us to learn to avoid sin –
    so we will have no need to repent.
 
Those who have escaped a shipwreck 
    generally tend to avoid ships and the sea in the future.
By keeping fresh the memory of disaster,
    they honor the second chance you gave them.
They honor their deliverance,
    and are not willing to tempt your mercy all over again.
 
We have escaped once.
Now let us allow ourselves to experience sin’s danger that far only –
    and no farther!
Even if it seems that chances are good for us to escape a second time.
 
Tertullian, c. 155 AD – c. 220 AD, Theologian from Carthage, North Africa
 
_________________________
 
 
I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was sorry at first, 
    for I know it was painful to you for a little while. 
Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, 
    but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. 
It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, 
    so you were not harmed by us in any way. 
For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin 
    and results in salvation. 
There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. 
But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.
 

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against the threat of malignant powers

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Nebuchadnezzar, William Blake, Wikimedia Commons CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0
 
Lord, we pray this day mindful of the sorry confusion of our world. 
Look with mercy upon this generation of your children
    so steeped in misery of their own contriving, 
    so far strayed from your ways 
    and so blinded by passions. 
We pray for the victims of tyranny, 
    that they may resist oppression with courage. 
We pray for wicked and cruel men, 
    whose arrogance reveals to us 
    what the sin of our own hearts is like 
    when it has conceived and brought forth its final fruit.

We pray for ourselves who live in peace and quietness, 

    that we may not regard our good fortune as proof of our virtue, 
    or rest content to have our ease 
    at the price of other men’s sorrow and tribulation.

We pray for all who have some vision of your will, 

    despite the confusions and betrayals of human sin, 
  that they may humbly and resolutely plan for and fashion 
    the foundations of a just peace between men, 
    even while they seek to preserve what is fair and just among us 
    against the threat of malignant powers.
 
Reinhold Niebuhr, 1892-1971, American theologian and professor
The Complete Book of Christian Prayer
 
__________________________
 
 
“That same hour the judgment was fulfilled, 
    and Nebuchadnezzar was driven from human society.
 He ate grass like a cow, and he was drenched with the dew of heaven. 
He lived this way until his hair was as long as eagles’ feathers 
    and his nails were like birds’ claws.
 
“After this time had passed, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven. 
My sanity returned, and I praised and worshiped the Most High 
    and honored the one who lives forever.

His rule is everlasting,
    and his kingdom is eternal.
All the people of the earth
    are nothing compared to him.
He does as he pleases
    among the angels of heaven
    and among the people of the earth.
No one can stop him or say to him,
    ‘What do you mean by doing these things?’

“When my sanity returned to me, so did my honor and glory and kingdom. 

My advisers and nobles sought me out, 
    and I was restored as head of my kingdom, 
    with even greater honor than before.

“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of heaven. 

All his acts are just and true, and he is able to humble the proud.”

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You are the nearest person to us

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
icon of Jesus and James, Nepoznati Ikonopisac, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
 
There is no person so near to us as you, Christ Jesus.
You are our father because we were created through you.
You are our brother because you took on our nature.
You are our father because you provided an inheritance for us.
You are our brother because you divided this inheritance with us.
And because you died to give us possession of that inheritance,
    you are the Nourishing One, our foster father 
    who has nursed us in his house, in the Christian church.
You are our twin brother, 
    so similar to us that your Father is ours
    and He will not know us from one another
    but will mingle our conditions:
He finds our sins in you
    and your righteousness in us.
 
after John Donne, 1572 – 1631, English poet, satirist, lawyer and priest
 
And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. 
You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.
 

The Presentation

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
The Presentation in the Temple, Alvaro Pirez, The Met, public domain
 
 
From all eternity, O Jesus Christ, 
    you have been our Lord and our God; so did the Father will it.  
Yet in this, the last of all periods of time, you also had your birth; 
    you were born of a virgin, 
    of one that had no knowledge of any man.  
To redeem us from the Law, you submitted to the Law.  
Your purpose was to free us from slavery 
    to which our corruption had reduced us 
    and to confer upon us the rank of sons.
 
This is the day when you were carried to the temple 
    and the aged Simeon took you in his arms 
    and asked leave to go in peace.  
‘My own eyes have seen’, he said, ‘your grace and your saving power.’
 
Deliver us, now, Lord, from all that is vain;
    fulfill your promise and free us from sin and shame;
    fill our hearts with your holy Spirit and enable us to say:
‘Abba, Father.’
 
Early Christian Prayers edited by A. Hamman, #218
__________________________
 
 
Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

 

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
    you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
     which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and the glory of your people Israel.”

 

How we need your compassion!

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Jesus and the woman taken in adultery / public domain

God, why do I call impossible what You call possible?
Why do I call unforgivable what You call forgiven?
Why do I compromise with what You call sin?
How I need to know Your heart,
    and reach out in Your love and wisdom to others.
It’s easy to love the people who are standing hard and fast,
    pressing on to meet that higher calling.
But the ones who might be struggling, 
    we tend to judge too harshly
    and refuse to try to catch them when they’re falling.
We put people into boxes and we draw our hard conclusions
     when they do things we know they should not do.
We sometimes write them off as hopeless 
    and we throw them to the dogs.
Our compassion and forgiveness sometimes seem in short supply.
We can love them and forgive them when their sin does not exceed our own,
    for we too have been down bumpy roads before.
But when they commit offences outside the boundaries we have set,
    we judge them in a word and we turn them out,
    and we close the door.
 
Chuck Girard, Celtic author
 
___________________________
 
 
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, 
    for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, 
    because you who pass judgment do the same things. 
Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 
So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, 
    do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 
Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, 
    not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
 

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O Jesus, crucified, have mercy upon me

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
image / Luca Giarelli, CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
 
O Jesus, poor and abject, unknown and despised,
    have mercy upon me, and let me not be ashamed to follow thee.
O Jesus, hated, calumniated, and persecuted,
    have mercy upon me, and make me content to be as my master.
O Jesus, blasphemed, accused, and wrongfully condemned,
    have mercy upon me, and teach me to endure the contradiction of sinners.
O Jesus, clothed with a habit of reproach and shame,
    have mercy upon me, and let me not seek my own glory.
O Jesus, insulted mocked, and spit upon,
    have mercy upon me, and let me not faint in the fiery trial.
O Jesus, crowned with thorns and hailed in derision;
O Jesus, burdened with our sins and the curses of the people;
O Jesus, affronted, outraged, buffeted,
    overwhelmed with injuries, griefs and humiliations;
O Jesus, hanging on the accursed tree, bowing the head, giving up the ghost,
    have mercy upon me,
    and conform my whole soul to thy holy, humble, suffering Spirit.
 
John Wesley, 1703-1791, English churchman and founder of Methodism
 
_______________________________
 
 
It was now about the sixth hour,
    and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, 
    while the sun’s light failed. 
And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said,
    “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” 
And having said this he breathed his last.

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I want to finish well

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash
 
O Lord, I want to finish well.
As the years march on, it is painful to realize I no longer possess
    the physical skills or energy I used to have.  
But even more frightening are the persistent temptations 
    that threaten to wear me down.  
The enemy knows my weaknesses, 
    and day after day, month after month, year after year, 
    he knows which temptations are most likely to attract me.  
I am afraid that, in a moment of weakness, I will sin boldly 
    and then have to live with the tragic consequences.  
Please keep me away from circumstances 
    where the temptation will be too strong for me to overcome.  
I don’t want to let an evening of fun ruin a lifetime of faithfulness.  
 
Lord, may I finish strong in my walk of faith.
When I am old and gray and depart this earth, 
    I will meet you face-to-face.
I pray that you will be able to say,
    ” Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
 
Ron A. Beers 
 
_______________________
 
 
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, 
will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

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Send your Word, O Lord

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Church of the Light / Bergmann, CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons
 
Send your Word, O Lord, like the rain,
Falling down upon the earth.
Send your Word.
We seek your endless grace,
With souls that hunger and thirst,
Sorrow and agonize.
We would all be lost in the dark
Without your guiding light.
 
Send your Word, O Lord, like the wind,
Blowing down upon the earth.
Send your Word.
We seek your wondrous power,
Pureness that rejects all sins,
Though they persist and cling.
Bring us to complete victory;
Set us free indeed.
 
Send your Word, O Lord, like the dew,
Coming gently upon the hills.
Send your Word.
We seek your endless love.
For life that suffers in strife
With adversaries and hurts,
Send your healing power of love;
We long for your new world.
 
Yasushige Imakoha, translated by Nobuaki Hanaoka, Japan
 
__________________________
 
 
As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
    will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
    will clap their hands.
Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
    and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
    for an everlasting sign,
    that will endure forever.”

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Forgive them all, O Lord

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
image / pxfuel
 
Forgive them all, O Lord:
our sins of omission and our sins of commission;
the sins of our youth and the sins of our riper years;
the sins of our souls and the sins of our bodies;
our secret and our more open sins;
our sins of ignorance and surprise,
and our more deliberate and presumptuous sins;
the sins we have done to please ourselves
and the sins we have done to please others;
the sins we know and remember,
and the sins we have forgotten;
the sins we have striven to hide from others
and the sins by which we have made others offend;
forgive them, O Lord, forgive them all for his sake,
who died for our sins and rose for our justification,
and now stands at thy right hand to make intercession for us,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
 
John Wesley, 1703-1791, English churchman and founder of Methodism
 
__________________________
 
 
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin.
But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father
—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins,
and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
 

Sometimes I choose sin

/ Eric Mathews / Leave a comment
Photo by Nick Gavrilov on Unsplash
 
Father – the truth about me is that often I choose sin:
    Sometimes I choose hatred.  Sometimes I choose slander.
    Sometimes I choose envy.  Sometimes I choose greed.
    Sometimes I choose pettiness.  Sometimes I choose lust.
    Sometimes I choose gossip.  Sometimes I choose pride.
    Sometimes I choose self-reliance.
    Sometimes I choose self-righteousness.
    Sometimes I choose self-aggrandizement.
    Sometimes I choose dishonesty.
    Sometimes I choose unkind words.
    Sometimes I choose to ignore the obvious needs around me.
    Sometimes I choose to hoard my resources.
    Sometimes I choose to neglect Your command to share the gospel.
The list of things I wrongly choose could go on and on.  And sometimes
I act on these things in ways that are darker than I ever care to state.
Each time I make such a choice, I choose death.
Today, I ask that You breathe life into my soul afresh
    and enable me to choose life – to choose You and Your ways.
 
Kurt Bjorklund, 1968- , American Minister and author or
 
____________________
 
 
For the wages of sin is death, 
    but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.