Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. -- Psalms 51:1 (KJV)
There is a spreading heresy in society; actually, there are many heresies. The one I think of reading this verse is the one that attacks The Church as being too negative. The claim of many self-help workshops, books, and teachers of this heresy is that we have no transgressions. They say that our problem is that we think too lowly of ourselves; that our parents or church or school beat us down to worthless, and we need to rise up and reject all the notions about being sinful.
Committing transgressions against others is impossible to avoid in the global village in which we live. Whether it's an interpersonal rudeness or non-Fair Trade product purchases, injury to another happens. The transgressions we all commit in life are the very substance by which relationships fracture. This is no different in our relationship with God. There are a thousand ways to hurt or separate ourselves from God, the easiest simply is by ignoring what God does for us, every minute, every day. While God's love is perfect and ever-biding, our love is so imperfect. The best we can do is place ourselves into the space of mercy. It is a space created through a prayer circle where we ask for God's mercy, confess our transgressions, and rest in God's love. "Have mercy upon me, O God." Then we can perceive and grow from God's lovingkindness and tender mercies. Then we can find more love, more humility, more forgiveness, more gratitude. Then we are living from the holy mercy space where transgressions are blotted out and redemption is a daily experience.
Prayer:
Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.
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