Anger

Continuing, this lenten journey, to reflect on the ways of self-sabotage using the grid of Gregory the Great - the so-called Seven Deadly Sins. This week... Anger.

Dear God, before Whose anger the universe quakes in awe, but Who is yet slow . . . slow . . . slow to such anger, I come. I come with my toxic, simmering, explosive angers that don't work Your righteousness - but my destruction. I cry for mercy.

Forgive me the long-held grudge, hidden behind the icy smile and plastic words. Forgive me the defining resentments, long since separated from offense, that keep me warm with the slow-burning fire of simmering rage - a smoldering soul. Forgive me the way I hold on to those unintended, untargeted, unconscious woundings received - keeping them covered, not allowing the light and fresh air in to heal them, choosing rather to let them fester in unforgiveness. Forgive me the explosions born out of frustration and fear, triggered by small irritations, mostly imagined, that ought simply to be ignored, but made worse by weariness or a sense of "enough is enough!"

O Lord Jesus, please teach me out of Your own chosen anger. Show me the deep sources of my rage. Help me recognize and fully accept my anger in enough time to know what to do with it. Instruct me in the structures of release, so that I may let go without allowing any lodging of those things for which anger is not a helpful or necessary reaction. And for those things which call for action moved by anger, help me to speak appropriate, helpful, non-destructive words, carefully chosen to address issues and causes. When anger is no longer needed, let me release it quickly and without residue. O Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Lenten Prayers - Pride

In this prayer guide, I would like to reflect on what it means for me to be a sinner who sins - and would invite you to share the journey of examination and confession. We need to take sin seriously. The purpose of confession is not to wallow in our sinfulness, but to bring it fully and finally to Jesus, receive His forgiveness, and learn to walk in the new life He gives.

Pride

Oh God, maker of Heaven and earth, maker of me - I see so often in my own heart the leaning towards the same prideful arrogance that drove me in the garden to partake of fruit forbidden. How crazy it is to think, even for a moment, that I know better than You about anything. Even anything concerning me. Lord, you know me. You know that I am but dust. You also know that it is hard for me to know me that well. I tend to think more highly of myself than I ought to think - to exaggerate my claims to success and ignore my failures - to justify my arrogance and excuse my willfulness.

Forgive me the mis-impressions I leave uncorrected because they are flattering, even if false. Forgive me for the way I manipulate conversations to wring compliments out of silence. Forgive me for the comparisons with others by which I measure my relative worth - rather than leaving all of that in your able hands. Forgive me for the reluctance to celebrate others for fear it will diminish me. Forgive me for not thinking as highly of You as I ought to think.

Please help me to think of myself as accurately as possible only in relation to You. And, along the way, help me become un-selfconscious. Please grant me opportunities this day to deal death to prideful self, that Your new life may have rightful and full place in and above all in me. Oh God - have mercy on me - a sinner.