Mercy
Mercy
Is 35:4-7a;Ps 146;James 2:1-10,14-17;Mark 7:24-37
Confession – Why is this a part of our service each Sunday?
Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.
Most holy and merciful Father:
We confess to you and to one another,
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.
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. ( adapted from the Book of Common Prayer)
Should it be a part of our worship of Almighty God our Heavenly Father?
We have received mercy if all of the above is true, and it is. We are fallen sinners in need of God’s saving power each day of our lives. “ For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy” James 1:13
I have thought about mercy these past few days. Jesus showed mercy to the woman in the reading from Mark’s Gospel. 7:24-37. Jesus went outside of the Jewish country. He went to Tyre and Sidon. The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician, a pagan who did not worship the God of Israel. He had mercy on the woman’s daughter who was afflicted with “an unclean spirit.” Mt 15:22 “ Lord, help me,” she asks Mt 15:25. Jesus had gone to rest but he came out of his rest to help the woman’s daughter in her distress.
G . Campbell Morgan said of this, “ Whenever a soul, whatever its background may be, however pagan, and apparently contrary to past revelation, in its agony seeks him, ‘ He cannot be hid.’ That is the lesson of this story.” And also Jesus is our example in this story of how he went out of His own area to a lost woman whose daughter needed healing.
James ties this up for us neatly in his illustration of the person who comes into the church that is not so finely dressed vs. the one who is. James asks us to be like Jesus and he quotes from the OT law, “ Ye shall respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great.” Deut.1:17 James says, “ If ye fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture,’ Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well.’ “ 2:8
We have received mercy. We are to be also merciful to others . That is why we confess our sins because we need so much to do these works of mercy. They are our witness to the world that we are trying to keep the royal law. It is the “ law of liberty".
Is 35:4-7a;Ps 146;James 2:1-10,14-17;Mark 7:24-37
Confession – Why is this a part of our service each Sunday?
Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.
Most holy and merciful Father:
We confess to you and to one another,
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.
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. ( adapted from the Book of Common Prayer)
Should it be a part of our worship of Almighty God our Heavenly Father?
We have received mercy if all of the above is true, and it is. We are fallen sinners in need of God’s saving power each day of our lives. “ For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy” James 1:13
I have thought about mercy these past few days. Jesus showed mercy to the woman in the reading from Mark’s Gospel. 7:24-37. Jesus went outside of the Jewish country. He went to Tyre and Sidon. The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician, a pagan who did not worship the God of Israel. He had mercy on the woman’s daughter who was afflicted with “an unclean spirit.” Mt 15:22 “ Lord, help me,” she asks Mt 15:25. Jesus had gone to rest but he came out of his rest to help the woman’s daughter in her distress.
G . Campbell Morgan said of this, “ Whenever a soul, whatever its background may be, however pagan, and apparently contrary to past revelation, in its agony seeks him, ‘ He cannot be hid.’ That is the lesson of this story.” And also Jesus is our example in this story of how he went out of His own area to a lost woman whose daughter needed healing.
James ties this up for us neatly in his illustration of the person who comes into the church that is not so finely dressed vs. the one who is. James asks us to be like Jesus and he quotes from the OT law, “ Ye shall respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great.” Deut.1:17 James says, “ If ye fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture,’ Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well.’ “ 2:8
We have received mercy. We are to be also merciful to others . That is why we confess our sins because we need so much to do these works of mercy. They are our witness to the world that we are trying to keep the royal law. It is the “ law of liberty".
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