Lord,
All of us are a little like
the Samaritan woman at the well.  We have sins and failure in our past,
a closet full of skeletons
which rattle from time to time, threatening to get   
and spoil our good image.  
For many of us it’s not just the skeletons either,
but real live boogie men.

For the most part,
we keep them tightly suppressed,
but from time to time they escape,
terrorizing our families,
and reducing us to guilt and confusion.
I hate and fear
the boogie man inside of me.
The egomaniac who talks too much.
The proud presumptuous me.
The critical, cutting me.
The carnal man, my feet of clay.
The pseudo-spiritual me.

The Samaritan woman found release
when You told her
everything she had done.
Does this mean blackmailing
boogie men cannot survive
in the light of Your
loving acceptance?
If it does, then tell me, tell us,
everything we’ve ever done.
Show us the futility of pretending
and protesting our innocence.
Give us the courage to own up,
and in this owning up,
let us find forgiveness and freedom.

Amen