In the classic Books of Common Prayer, Morning and Evening Prayer begin with a confession of sin. Modern liturgical revisers struggle with some of the wording, finding it too definite and too hard to say. The phrase, “…and there is no health in us…” is particularly troubling to them. It shouldn’t be. Because they are so hard to say, these are some of the most valuable words in the Book and should be affirmed in all their difficult strength, neither eliminated nor weakened…
The Prayer Book gives me words to say.
I’d like to pass them safely by,
to leave them out or add some words
to soften the hardness they declare;
but they are true, so horribly true,
for there is no health in my ailing soul,
and there is no good that I can do
to hide the horrors that infest me,
for even the heights of righteousness
are polluted by my false intent,
dirty, stained, like filthy rags,
and counting as the sin they are.
So when those words come to my eyes,
and I tremble, wishing not to say them,
I grit my teeth and still my fearful heart,
and spit those words from an erring tongue,
“…there is no health, no health, no health,
no health within my soul,”
and I lay that thought with all my sins
at the feet of the One who bears them all,
and I am free, I am free, I am free,
and I am His, and His priest tells me,
and I rise refreshed, without pretense,
a sinner saved by grace.
I’d like to pass them safely by,
to leave them out or add some words
to soften the hardness they declare;
but they are true, so horribly true,
for there is no health in my ailing soul,
and there is no good that I can do
to hide the horrors that infest me,
for even the heights of righteousness
are polluted by my false intent,
dirty, stained, like filthy rags,
and counting as the sin they are.
So when those words come to my eyes,
and I tremble, wishing not to say them,
I grit my teeth and still my fearful heart,
and spit those words from an erring tongue,
“…there is no health, no health, no health,
no health within my soul,”
and I lay that thought with all my sins
at the feet of the One who bears them all,
and I am free, I am free, I am free,
and I am His, and His priest tells me,
and I rise refreshed, without pretense,
a sinner saved by grace.
'No Health' has 1 comment
June 19, 2018 @ 8:15 pm William Bates
Ed, This is a beautifully written discussion of the Confession. This phrase & the truth of the need for Confession is so overwhelming obvious. Absolution & freedom from sin. Beautiful! Terrific! Lay Reader at St. George Cathedral, Ocala, Florida