Prayer for the Day

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Prayer for the Day: 16/02/2021

16/02/2021

BBC Radio 4 - Prayer for the Day, 16/02/2021

A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with The Reverend Lucy Winkett

Good morning. Today, Shrove Tuesday is so named because it’s when Christians went to be shriven, that is, in preparation for the fasting season of Lent, which begins tomorrow. They went to “clear the decks” as it were.  Confess, face the reality of their own life circumstances and, crucially receive forgiveness and hope for change.  
 
Far from being a guilt-ridden way of life, shriving just means turning, and this kind of repentant decision making is full of energy.  In a lockdown, when we’ve learned more about ourselves, a good question for a modern shriving process might be:  What do I use in my daily life to distract myself from the deeper realities of living? Is it busyness, the internet, alcohol, over-eating?  And have I got the courage to try to change? And I say courage advisedly, because with these distractions removed, the big questions of life have time and space to surface: What is the purpose and direction of my life? Who made me and who is it that I love? Can I learn to forgive others? Can I learn to forgive myself? Spiritual and thoughtful questions that if given room to breathe can change our way of life. 

Shriving sounds as if it belongs to another time and can, in the wrong human hands, feel like a too-harsh searchlight that mercilessly threatens to expose the tenderest shames that we carry.  But this is not at all the operation of a kind and merciful God. Real shriving is an ordinary every day thing; and it will always teach me that it is never, never too late to choose to change again. 

Gracious God, stay close to me through the changes and chances of this fleeting world. That I might know your presence with me, wherever I am and whatever I have done. Amen.

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