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Confessions

photo by: meyshanworld

The following post is from my friend Sandra Bauman. Sandra and I met at City on a Hill a while back. Sandra is the type of person that you can become instant friends with, but one of the things I like to talk to her about the most is how her Jewish heritage her current relationship with Jesus. The following is an email that she recently sent out to all her friends. I hope you enjoy.

[Ash Wednesday] got me thinking — and got the Holy Spirit reminding me — about something that struck me this fall, which I fully intended to implement….but didn’t….

Every so often I miss a bit of the liturgy, the Hebrew prayers, and the traditions of my Jewish upbringing. So, this past Yom Kippur – (the Jewish “Day of Atonement” – the one day of the year a Jew has the potential to be forgiven everything one did last year and hopefully be written in God’s “book” to live another year) – I went to Adat Yeshua.

At one point in the Yom Kippur service the congregation confesses together out loud a litany of sins. The list was intriguing because I could identify something I had done in practically every line. My natural tendency, at the end of a day (or week, or month…or never), is to look back and not be able to specifically identify anything I would call “sin.” This list of sins totally blows that out of the water.

My intention after that YK service was to type the list up handily and go over it every evening before going to sleep. Needless to say, that didn’t happen. But now that I’ve confessed that please feel free to hold me accountable – ask me about it!

I also offer it to you (at the bottom) as a potential tool to use (and share) as we, individually and as a family, enter into this Lent season with the charge Dave and Donovan offered: to truly agree with God about our sin and need for Him, and allow Him to work an amazing transformation within us.

I love you and look forward to the adventures this challenge will bring!

Sandra

Confession*

The sin we committed in your sight forcibly or willingly
And the sin we committed against you by acting callously

The sin we committed in your sight unintentionally
And the sin we committed against you by idle talk

The sin we committed in your sight by lustful behavior
And the sin we committed against you publicly or privately

The sin we committed in your sight knowlingly and deceptively
And the sin we committed against you by offensive speech

The sin we committed in your sight by lewd association
And the sin we committed against you by insincere confession

The sin we committed by contempt for parents or teachers
And the sin we committed against you willfully or by mistake

The sin we committed in your sight by violence
And the sin we committed against you by defaming your name

The sin we committed in your sight by unclean lips
And for the sin we committed against you by foolish talk

The sin we committed in your sight by evil impulse
And the sin we committed against you wittingly or unwittingly

The sin we committed in your sight by fraud and falsehood
And the sin we committed against you by bribery

The sin we committed in your sight by scoffing
And the sin we committed against you by slander

The sin we committed in your sight in dealings with men
And the sin we committed against you in eating and drinking

The sin we committed in your sight by usury and interest
And the sin we committed against you by a lofty bearing

The sin we committed in your sight by our manner of speech
And the sin we committed against you by wanton glances

The sin we committed in your sight by haughty airs
And the sin we committed against you by scornful defiance

The sin we committed in your sight by casting off responsibility
And the sin we committed against you in passing judgment

The sin we committed in your sight by plotting against men
And the sin we committed against you by sordid selfishness

The sin we committed in your sight by levity of mind
And the sin we committed against you by being obstinate

The sin we committed in your sight by running to do evil
And the sin we committed against you by talebearing

The sin we committed in your sight by swearing falsely
And the sin we committed against you by groundless hatred

The sin we committed in your sight by breach of trust
And the sin we committed against you by a confused heart

*(Paraphrased from the High Holiday Prayer Book, Copyright 1951 by Hebrew Publishing Company, New York, and 1979 by Philip Birnbaum)