‽istis kneels and reclaims sorry… one of the hardest words? (weekending June 6th 2020)
‽istis kneels… in shame and guilt and contrition and penitence… and modern forms of ancient words and ideas uttered across the centuries come to mind:
‽ we have sinned against our neighbour in thought and word and deed[i]
‽ we have done those things that we ought not to have done
‽ we have left undone those things that we ought to have done[ii]
And ‽istis recognises that perhaps negligence, weakness and our own deliberate fault[iii] are possibly just-about explanations, but may be no excuse at all for wickedness committed time after time[iv], past and present: individually, as groups, as communities of geography or self-interest, as organisations and corporations and systems, as states and nations and alliances of nations – including by those who may also have knelt, may have held their Bible or sacred text, may have even believed sincerely that what they did was ‘right’ and justified and somehow sanctified…
And after sorrow perhaps, possibly, maybe comes sorry…? And after sorry...? Well that may be for another week, lest I and we move on too swiftly from weeping with those who weep, from recognising and naming and cataloguing and understanding the wickedness past and present - and from kneeling in shame and guilt and contrition and penitence…
© Pistis
[i] https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/common-material/new-patterns-worshp/resource-section-themes/b-penitence
[ii] https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/common-material/new-patterns-worshp/resource-section-themes/b-penitence
