Week 5 – Thursday 7 April

“Our transgressions indeed are with us, and we know our iniquities: transgressing, and denying the Lord, and turning away from following our God … Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands at a distance; for truth stumbles in the public square, and uprightness cannot enter.”

Reading

Isaiah 59.1-15

Injustice and Oppression to Be Punished

See, the Lord’s hand is not too short to save,
    nor his ear too dull to hear.
Rather, your iniquities have been barriers
    between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
    so that he does not hear.
For your hands are defiled with blood,
    and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies,
    your tongue mutters wickedness.
No one brings suit justly,
    no one goes to law honestly;
they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,
    conceiving mischief and begetting iniquity.
They hatch adders’ eggs,
    and weave the spider’s web;
whoever eats their eggs dies,
    and the crushed egg hatches out a viper.
Their webs cannot serve as clothing;
    they cannot cover themselves with what they make.
Their works are works of iniquity,
    and deeds of violence are in their hands.
Their feet run to evil,
    and they rush to shed innocent blood;
their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity,
    desolation and destruction are in their highways.
The way of peace they do not know,
    and there is no justice in their paths.
Their roads they have made crooked;
    no one who walks in them knows peace.

Therefore justice is far from us,
    and righteousness does not reach us;
we wait for light, and lo! there is darkness;
    and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
We grope like the blind along a wall,
    groping like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
    among the vigorous as though we were dead.
We all growl like bears;
    like doves we moan mournfully.
We wait for justice, but there is none;
    for salvation, but it is far from us.
For our transgressions before you are many,
    and our sins testify against us.
Our transgressions indeed are with us,
    and we know our iniquities:
transgressing, and denying the Lord,
    and turning away from following our God,
talking oppression and revolt,
    conceiving lying words and uttering them from the heart.
Justice is turned back,
    and righteousness stands at a distance;
for truth stumbles in the public square,
    and uprightness cannot enter.
Truth is lacking,
    and whoever turns from evil is despoiled.

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him
    that there was no justice.

Reflection

Discerning the body goes hand-in-hand with honesty. In most churches, Holy Communion is preceded by a time of confession. Confession is an invitation to truth-telling, to acknowledge our need of God’s salvation in every possible area of our lives.

In practice, however, confession is often reduced to those things we do that we have the power not to do, or do differently. But the truth of our humanity goes far beyond this. It encompasses those things we have no power over: the systems we are part of and condone or profit from. If we confess our sins together, then our truth-telling has to be more than the sum of our individual sin and brokenness. Confession together is an invitation to acknowledge the brokenness, injustice and sin of the world and its systems, of our nations, our churches and communities, and asking God to lead us into better ways.

Prayer

God of all truth, show us the things we would rather ignore in our lives, soften our hearts, and lead us into newness of life. Amen.

Today’s family challenge

Read the Lord’s Prayer and notice what each line is about

The Lord’s Prayer reminds us each day to praise God, to ask for what we need and to ask forgiveness for what we have done wrong.