Two Words

“Lord, help us not to shy away from our own transgressions,

neither to hold the sins of others against them,

but to name sin with confidence that

your forgiveness has the power

to effect a just reconciliation in our world. Amen.”

— page 476, Common Prayer:

A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

I’ve stubbed my toe.

Okay, more like banged up my foot.

To be precise, I’ve gotten all tripped up over two words.

A directive. A command.

A necessary step in the right direction.

Only two words, but they’re formidable ones.

“…name sin….”

Specifically? Yes.

Personally? Yes.

Corporately? Yes.

Ouch. This interrupts my hurried pace, as I stumble over having to “…name sin….”

Hear the good news: this prayer doesn’t stop there! It goes on, and I’m ready to hurry on.

But those two words, “name sin,” haunt me. Tether me back to an important part of this prayer: Confession.

Today, let’s take time to call it what it is:

“Lord, help us not to shy away from our own transgressions,

neither to hold the sins of others against them,

but to name sin….’

Then some healing may begin.