The Coventry Litany of Reconciliation – Download a Copy
All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
The hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class,
Holy One, Forgive.
The covetous desires of people and nations to possess what is not their own,
Holy One, Forgive.
The greed which exploits the work of human hands and lays waste the earth,
Holy One, Forgive.
Our envy of the welfare and happiness of others,
Holy One, Forgive.
Our indifference to the plight of the imprisoned, the homeless, the refugee,
Holy One, Forgive.
The lust which dishonors the bodies of men, women, and children,
Holy One, Forgive.
The pride which leads us to trust in ourselves and not in God,
Holy One, Forgive.
Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
(Adapted)
Transcript
The season of Lent begins with a reminder that the first Christians used this season to put “the whole congregation in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith.”
So, this is a season to remember. We remember our death and that death will touch all of us. In remembering death, we have the courage then to take up crosses, deny self, lose our life to find it, trusting that our deaths are not the end and not to be feared.
We remember that our eternal hope and grace for daily living comes to us through the Crucified and Risen Christ. That is where our salvation lies. So, we also use this season to let go of anything else we believe might save us. All those false gods and idols, all those anxious attempts to save ourselves, which all ultimately fail us, well, we are invited to let go of them, and return, heart, mind, body, and soul, to our Maker and Redeemer.
This season of Lent in 2022 begins the horrific news of war in Ukraine. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, our own Presiding Bishop, Pope Francis, and countless other Christian leaders around the globe have invited us to pray for the people of Ukraine as they suffer from this war of choice imposed upon them by President Putin. We also pray for the people of Russia, who will also bear the brunt of this warring madness.
If you are still looking for a Lenten practice this season, I would invite you to pray for the people of Ukraine and Russia. I would also invite all of us to consider praying the Litany of Reconciliation from Coventry Cathedral.
Coventry Cathedral was bombed by the Nazis in World War 2. The bombing leveled the Cathedral to rubble. Almost immediately, even as the rubble still smoldered, the Dean of the Cathedral called the people of Coventry and the Cathedral parish to forgive their enemies. It was not a popular sentiment then, or now.
From the rubble, a wooden cross was fashioned. Out of warring madness, a witness to the Crucified Christ emerged.
The Coventry Litany of Reconciliation was written by Canon Joseph Poole in 1958. It captures the spirit of reconciliation in the face of great evil that has shaped the ministry of Coventry Cathedral ever since the Nazi bombing.
“While framed around the seven deadly sins, it serves as a reminder that when we pray about the problems of the world around us, we need to begin by acknowledging the roots of those problems in our own hearts. The Litany is prayed, in a short ceremony taking at most ten minutes, at noon each weekday in Coventry Cathedral and in the Cathedral ruins on Fridays.”
At the end of this video, you will hear the Litany offered by two voices. We will also share a link where you can find the Litany, adapted, that you can pray, either alone or with others throughout this Lenten season.
This Lent, let the whole congregation, the whole Body of Christ be renewed by the saving knowledge that in a world which still chooses war, we choose to seek our salvation and our hope in the Crucified Christ, who forgave us from the cross, and reigns from that saving place for eternity.
Amen.