Over the last few weeks, the traditional Church of England General Confession (which we Episcopalians of the mid-twentieth century learned from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer) has been weaving in and out of my consciousness. "We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts...We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us..."
The context in which I understand these words has changed entirely, of course. For me, this isn't about sin in the biblical sense. It is about humanity having completely lost sight of the validity and crucial importance of love, the divine feminine, and the health of the earth. We've lost ourselves in an endless addiction to buying and consuming. Our technical prowess has far outstripped our spiritual capacity to use tools wisely. We worship conflict, and dismiss love and beauty. We thrill to the sight of tanks and explosions and weapons, whether on screen or in real life; we demand convenience and safety, even as the piles of plastic pour into landfills and the ocean. "And there is no health in us" -- is the pandemic really "about" COVID, or the anger that is spreading like wildfire? Is it possible that global warming (and all its attendant ills, including disease) is at least in part due to the heat of our own rage?
A "general confession" in this religious tradition is one spoken by the whole congregation together, as differentiated from a personal confession (to a priest) of specific individual sins. I suppose it is a way of saying, we are all in this together. I'm one of those people who has spent a lifetime apologizing, often for things I didn't do. I felt such a chronic sense of shame and embarrassment, that the word "sorry" came out all the time. In recent years I have tried to grow out of taking responsibility for things that, strictly speaking, I didn't do. However, I am a human being in these times. Directly or indirectly, I have been a part of what is beginning to feel like an awfully lost culture. I don't believe the Goddess wants us to spend valuable time in worshiping her or apologizing for past "sins". However, I have a hunch She would appreciate a moment of acknowledgement from all of us, individually or collectively. We have strayed too far from love. We are hurting ourselves, each other, and Mother Earth. Most of us have the capacity to re-align closer to love, each and every minute. In the traditional prayer, petitioners ask to live a "godly, righteous, and sober life..." My version of that would be, "May I love myself, my neighbor, and the earth." And in the face of all that is before us, may I not lose heart.
