Saturday, 8 March

Saturday, 8 March 2014

I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession saying, ‘Ah, Lord, great and awesome God, keeping covenant and steadfast love with those who love you and keep your commandments, we have sinned and done wrong, acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and ordinances.’  Daniel 9.4-5

You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.  James 5.6 

The book of Daniel was probably written in the 2^nd century BCE and was written for the people of the day.  It is thought to be an apocalyptic book, meaning ‘unveiling’ in Greek. In the book, Daniel is praying to God. He talks about the prophecy by Jeremiah that Jerusalem would experience 70 years of desolation, and these verses are part of a prayer of confession on behalf of the people of Israel who have sinned against God. Daniel reminds the people of God’s covenant made with Noah (Genesis Chp 9), which must be renewed in every generation. James, too, about 250 years later, reminds the early Christians that they have sinned and that such sins have contributed to Jesus’ dying for us. 

These days, we often find it difficult to concentrate on our sins and the way in which those sins have hurt God and our world. Maybe that is because it seems difficult for us to relate to the huge responsibility of the way in which our materialism leads to huge inequalities in our world. Even less do we find it easy to identify with the misuse of power which brings about war and inhumanity to others. It might be more helpful if this Lent we can think about any way in which our insensitivity to others has hurt those around us. We might challenge ourselves to do something positive to do something about this.

Lesley and Maurice Husselbee, Chorlton Central