#penitance

DIOCESE OF EDMONTON

For all false judgements, for uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbours, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us.

         Accept our repentance, Lord.

Litany of Penitence, BAS 284

“In the U.S., the go-to example for the asymmetric jailing of minority populations, black men are six times more likely to be imprisoned than white men. In Canada, the Indigenous incarceration rate is 10 times higher than the non-Indigenous population—higher even than South Africa at the height of apartheid.” (Macleans, Canada’s prisons are the new residential schools, link )

I don’t like to think of myself as racist, unsurprisingly.  I don’t think most of us do.  But the evidence shows that we are.  That we have better inherited millennia of social conditioning about people who are different being scary than we have inherited Christian imperative to treat all persons with dignity.  

The article I quote from Macleans is just one example.  The lack of potable water on First Nation Communities in Canada in the 21st century is another.  The legion of missing and murdered indigenous women whose cases were either never opened or never investigated is another. In Baptism we promise to respect the dignity of every human being.  Barbara Coloroso puts it, “I will not treat others in a way I do not want to be treated.”

It’s past time to repent with our actions as well as with our prayers.

We have been deaf to your call to serve as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit.

Litany of Penitence, BAS 284

 We read these words on Ash Wednesday.  I can usually handle the first two sentences because I know how the Church, how I, have missed the chance to stand with those who most need someone again and again. Whether that be the enslaved; those marginalized because of their ethnicity, gender, or sexuality; children; seniors; people with chronic illness and disabilities; those who worship differently.  It is a long list of those who God’s children have not, and in too many cases still do not, treat as fellow children of God.

I know that.  And I know how many of us work and pray for this to be different.

 Until the third sentence, I can nod and think “we have failed so many times but we are still trying.”  I can find some comfort until we read “We have grieved your Holy Spirit.”  And then I remember that the only sin Jesus puts beyond repentance is blaspheming the Holy Spirit and I wonder, when does continually grieving the Holy Spirit come too close?

 Because we humans seem to continually grieve the Holy Spirit in our struggle to understand the inclusion God offers to those that seem different and threatening, until we spend time with them, listening to them, learning how we are all God’s children.  When, I wonder year after year, does ignoring, grieving the Holy Spirit, become blasphemy.