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Prayers For Lent
In This World
Lord God,
in this world where goodness and evil continue to clash with each other,
instil in us, and in all your people, discernment to see what is right,
faith to believe what is right, and courage to do what is right.
Keep us aware of the subtlety of sin, and preserve us, body, mind and soul,
through the power of your Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Christ Of The Scars
Christ of the scars,
into your hands we place the broken,
the wounded, the hungry and the homeless.
Christ of the scars,
into your hands we place those
who have been betrayed or bereaved,
those who have suffered loss of limb or esteem,
family or friends, employment or home.
Christ of the scars,
into your hands we place unwanted babies,
children abused, neighbours defamed,
lovers spurned, spouses deserted.
Christ of the scars,
into your hands we place victims of war and violence,
false accusation or sharp practice.
Lent
Lent is a tree without blossom, without leaf,
Barer than blackthorn in its winter sleep,
All unadorned.
Unlike Christmas which decrees
The setting-up, the dressing-up of trees,
Lent is taking down, a stripping bare,
A starkness after all has been withdrawn
Of surplus and superfluous
Leaving no hiding-place, only an emptiness
Between black branches, a most precious space
Before the leaf, before the time of flowers;
Lest we should see only the leaf, the flower,
Lest we should miss the stars.
