'Absolve thy people from thy offences'. Is this the same as 'forgive us our trespasses? I rather think it is. You don't have to believe in God to understand what this is all about. We all offend other people, trespass upon their good nature, cross boundaries in how we should act towards each other, and I suppose most of us would want to apologise and have our apology accepted, the whole incident put behind us.
Then, of course, we want to be delivered from the bands (shackles, handcuffs) of our sins, offences, trespasses, call them what you will; released from guilt or old hurtful memories.
And, we would like to find the strength to stop making the same mistakes; this is the Prayer Book confession;
Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we have sinned against you and against our neighbour, in thought and word and deed, through negligence, through weakness, through our own deliberate fault. We are truly sorry and repent of all our sins.
I reckon these words will catch us all, one way or another.
And let's not forget the other part of the Lord's Prayer;
'forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us'. If we receive absolution, we should pass it on.
Age old words that one never tires from.
ReplyDeleteAs I grow older (I'll be 67 soon) I become impatient with 'new/ new new' and return to older words and prayers that I didn't even know that I knew.
Delete"We have left undone those things we ought to have done, and done those things we ought not to have done" springs to mind (I may be a Nonconformist, but there are some bits of Cranmer that resonate!)
ReplyDeleteI like this part too!! I miss some parts of the older prayers. We don't say this version at church and I wish we did! Kx
DeleteCranmer, and Shakespeare, have massively influenced everyday speech, haven't they.
DeleteYes, our church is more contemporary than traditional these days. I enjoyed it 20 + years ago when I was 40 something but I find I haven't kept up with the times! So I am finding it harder to connect with today's 'contemporary '!
DeleteOur church only zooms the more contemporary service, and I'm finding that I'm not as 'contemporary' as I used to be, and miss the earlier traditional service! (That anonymous reply to Ang was me too)
DeleteNow I am really confusing myself! The anonymous reply to Ang above wasn't me! I've had trouble replying as myself rather than as anonymous so am rather going round in circles at the moment.
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