Litany of Penitence

Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:



For me, the Season of Lent is always a matter of finding it. Most people who observe these 40 days on the church calendar that lead up to Easter, head into the season with a list of things they are going to do and a list of things they are going to refrain from doing. I just seem to go into Lent groping around for its personal meaning to me. I usually land on something satisfactory around 20 days in.

This year, I’m stuck on the Litany of Penitence from the Book of Common Prayer. Each confession keeps pounding itself so heavily into my soul that I’m kind of out of breath as one by one I consider them—like I had been climbing up a steep hill.

In church, a celebrant reads the confession, to which the congregation replies: We confess to you, Lord. The Litany of Penitence begins with: “We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives.”

Whoa—guilty, guilty, and guilty—guilty on all counts.

The next on the list is: “Our self-indulgent appetites and ways and our exploitation of other people.” Guilty and guilty again.

I haven’t proceeded to the six other confessions yet—these two seem to be more than I can deal with in this first week of Lent—maybe I will have worked my way through the next four by Easter.

I think I should take some time to write out all my past unfaithfulness, all the pride I can remember (so much there) and identify all the hypocrisy and impatience.

Once I’ve done this spiritual exercise, then maybe I will be able to consider what it is I am going to do to observe Lent and from what it is I am going to refrain.

I spy God!