From whom no secrets are hid

The priest says “Almighty God….from whom no secrets are hid.”
We rush to the next phrase but now linger there.
We are a rich conundrum of secrets,
We weave a pattern of lies in order to be well thought of,
We engage in subterfuge about our truth.
We carry old secrets too painful to utter, too shameful to acknowledge, too burdensome to bear,
Of failures we cannot undo, of alienations we regret but cannot fix.

And you know them . You know them all

And so we take a deep sigh in your presence, no longer needing to pretend and cover up and deny.
We mostly do not have big sins to confess, only modest shames that do not fit our hoped-for selves.
And then we find that your knowing is more powerful than our secrets.

You know and do not turn away, and our secrets that seemed too powerful are emptied of strength, secrets that seemed too burdensome are now less severe.

We marvel that when you find us out you stay with us, taking us seriously, taking our secrets soberly, but not ultimately, overpowering our little failure with your massive love and abiding patience. (Walter Brueggemann)