Forgiveness

Sorry for the couple of days fasting from actively writing on the blog. I needed to catch up on a couple of things and prepare for others.  Mea Culpa.

Speaking of Forgiveness, the Orthodox Church has a really neat Liturgy which begins the Season of Lent. It is called "Forgiveness Vespers." It takes place on the Sunday prior to the 1st Sunday of Lent. The evening service begins the usual way.  Towards the end of the vespers, the priests take off their bright vestments and exchange them for black or dark vestments. The bright fabrics behind the icons get turned to dark.  The lights of the Church are dimmed.  Clearly, we are beginning a new period in the Church's Year. Then, a Liturgy of Forgiveness beings with the following prayer:

O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, meddling, lust of 
power, and idle talk. (The clergy and people prostrate.)
 But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to Thy servant. 
(The clergy and people prostrate.)
 Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own sins and not to judge my brother; 
for Thou art blessed unto ages of ages. Amen

Then, it gets awesome. The priest turns towards the people and asks them to forgive him for any time that he offended them during the year.  His family then goes to him as he asks forgiveness and they ask for his.  Then, each member of the congregation asks forgiveness from each other.  Sometimes its a quiet "forgive me a sinner" and people respond "God forgives."  It is extremely moving.  It usually ends in tears and embraces. Could you imagine a service like this in the Roman or Anglican Liturgies?  How moving to be reconciled with each other.  Even though we do not have a particular service such as this, maybe during this Lent, God is asking you to reach out to ask forgiveness of people in your life.  Forgiveness is life changing. Forgiveness makes us whole. Imagine a world where we ask each other to forgive! The humility, the depth, the love. It is then that God is glorified in His Mercy and we can truly be called His disciples.