Thoughts for the Day

Prayer for Cleansing and Pardon

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgement.
Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.

You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.

O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
For you have no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a burnt-offering, you would not be pleased.
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Psalm 51 is notably used in the Ash Wednesday service when we clear the decks as it were, of all the baggage of the sin within us, to make a clean start at the beginning of Lent. The symbol of water and washing is used to "blot out" our transgressions. As Handel's famous anthem says "Wash me throughly from my wickedness" (not "thoroughly" as in the New RSV bible, notice). In other words wash me inside and out and make me clean again from all my sin.

What might a modern symbol be for the difficulty of washing ourselves clean from sin? Perhaps how hard it is to really clean a thermal container that people take hot drinks or soup in to work, even with a good bottle brush. Or we might prefer to think of stained clothing put into the washing machine. It can often come out with marks still on it! If we can't clean these things, how can we clean ourselves?

King David knows the difficulty of being freed from his sin, and in Psalm 51 he asks God to cleanse him from his sin, both inside and out. We too ask for the stain of our sin to be removed, including the sins of which we're not even aware, and for those things we often conveniently overlook. Notice also the psalm asks God to put a right spirit within us and not to take His Holy Spirit from us. May we say "Amen" to this prayerful psalm and perhaps read it regularly during Lent.

Heavenly Father,
we acknowledge our sins -
both known and unknown,
and ask Your forgiveness.
Wash us clean from all our transgressions
and create a fresh heart within us
so that with the help of the Holy Spirit
we may learn to do Your will,
and grow ever closer to You.
Amen.