Developing Spiritual Practices Together: Repentance and Lament
One of our goals as Better Together is to encourage spiritual practices that lead to decisions that promote unity and inspire engagement in mission. (1) We know that these kinds of practices can feel, at times, like swimming against the current of our culture. To help us engage in these spiritual disciplines we’ll be publishing a series of prayers that aid us in the practices of repentance and lament. These prayers will coincide with the season of Lent as we look forward to celebrating the good news of Easter.
We invite you to join us as we engage these practices in hope that they equip us to build healthier relationships even across disagreement. We hope you enjoy this first installment:
At the beginning of this Lenten season, we are called to moments of personal reflection, reconciliation where it is needed, and restoration in both our bodies and souls. Opening with a prayer from Thomas Merton, we offer up our prayers:
My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though
I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Please join us in this prayer:
Loving and faithful God,
We resonate with the words of this prayer because for many of us,
we do not feel like we know where we are going.
How did we get here?
Why did we get here so quickly?
What did we not see and what part did we play in it
- through our actions or our inactions?
Lord, we long to see a path forward
One we travel together, despite our differences
One we covenant to journey together, despite our fractures
One we vow to walk together, despite our desires to walk away
Lord, would you lead us down the road that we know you have already so graciously
prepared for us?
Will you please give us hearts that are soft enough to walk gently,
minds that are open enough to remain humble,
and hands that are willing enough to be used by you in complete surrender
to your will and your way.
Journey with us, Lord, this day and always. Amen.
(1) https://www.thirdway.church/#:~:text=We%20seek%20to%20encourage,faithful%20followers%20of%20Jesus.
