We are created out of love and for love.  We walk the same earth and breathe the same air, and yet…

We proclaim that it is God’s will that all people live in equity and peace, that all have a share in God’s abundant life, that there is liberty and justice for all, and yet…

We have been claimed in baptism, buried with Christ in a death like his, to be raised with Christ in a resurrection like his.  We have already died the only death that really matters, and yet…

We do not recognize the full humanity of others.  There is not justice for all.  In our fear we doubt the resurrection.

This Lent, let us enter into a time and space of honest and unflinching examination.  We offer these devotions as a means, a starting point for prayer and reflection.  The hard work of truth telling and truth hearing is set before us.  The painful reality that racial equity does not exist in our countries our churches cannot be ignored.  We must resist any rush to reconciliation before repentance.  Return to the Lord.

Prayer

In your love, compassionate God, keep us in this tension.  In your severe mercy see this pain to bring action and change.  We pray this through Christ our Lord, in whom the dividing wall of hostility has already been broken down.  Amen.