'Like lost sheep': penitence and the Prayer Book

Almighty and most merciful Father, 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 offended against thy holy laws ...

The general Confession at Morning and Evening Prayer opens by invoking our "most merciful Father", placing us alongside the Prodigal - ashamed, hungry, journeying back from the far country, utterly reliant on the Father's grace in Christ:

And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

'Almighty' does not contradict this. In fact, it assures us that this love and mercy flows eternally from our "most merciful Father". In the words of Article XVII, this "is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort".

We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep ...

It is a phrase deeply rooted in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. As the Prophet declares, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way". When we utter this phrase in the general Confession, we acknowledge that we stand with faithless Israel, recklessly straying from the good and wholesome pastures. As the late Sir Roger Scruton put it:

Like sheep we go astray; and like sheep we stray as a crowd. Moreover, sheep that stray from their pasture are making a huge mistake: they are venturing into territory where they are no longer protected ... The right course for those sheep who have strayed into unknown territory is to go back through the hole in the hedge. This is the essence of the religious life: not progress and experiment, but the journey back to the place that protects us.

To acknowledge that we are indeed sheep who have foolishly, recklessly "gone astray" is also to give expression to our dependence upon the Good Shepherd who searches for us and brings us home, to remember that this parable applies to us. We are not to delude ourselves that we are the wise, righteous sheep who have stayed in the fold: "And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them".

We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts ...

It is, perhaps, the most powerfully counter-cultural phrase in the general Confession. Our hearts are not to be followed, for - in the words of the prophet Jeremiah - "The heart is deceitful above all things". Can we really look around at the cultural and social wreckage of the late 20th and early 21st century North Atlantic societies, and not recognise that 'follow your heart' radical individualism has been profoundly destructive? "The heart is deceitful above all things." And yet we do follow our hearts, their devices and desires, wounding our souls and the souls of those around us. 

We have offended against thy holy laws ...

It is a phrase not found in many contemporary Anglican liturgies. Our awkward embarrassment at the very notion of "thy holy laws" means that reference to God's commandments and laws - outside of the Psalter and readings from Scripture (itself, of course, a revealing state of affairs) - is incredibly rare. This is a significant loss. As Rowan Williams has said of the Ten Commandments, urging a much more serious attention to them by the contemporary church, they are the "ethical foundation" of Christian moral teaching, setting forth what is due to God and neighbour. To confess "We have offended against thy holy laws" is to acknowledge how we have acted contrary to that which has been divinely bestowed for our individual and communal flourishing.

There is much that has been lost with the disappearance in many places of the tradition of Sunday Morning Prayer as a regular service. Amongst the greatest of these losses are the theologically and spiritually rich opening words of the general Confession.