Prayers of Confession on Invitation
Gracious and loving God, you invite us to the table, yet we resist your grace. It is sometimes easier to float around outside of the Christian community than it is to invest fully in it. You invite others to the table as well—sometimes people whom we do not see as worthy, and sometimes people who make us feel unworthy ourselves. We put up barriers in places where you long to create circles of love and faith. We repent from these sins, and ask you to forgive us for these and all of our trespasses. We continue now to confess in silence…
Silent Prayer
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Submitted by Chip Hardwick
For the times we neglect to care for our brothers and sisters in Christ, please forgive us, Lord.
For the times we fail to welcome new people who look or act different from ourselves, please forgive us, Lord.
For the times we fail to pursue you through prayer and Scripture reading, please forgive us, Lord.
For the times we are unwilling to try new things in order to reach people, please forgive us, Lord.
Submitted by Austin D. Hill
Loving and forgiving God, we want to answer your invitation to experience a Christ-centered life. Yet all too often, our lives are much more centered around our ourselves than around Jesus. Jesus sends us out to transform the world in love, but we are hesitant. Forgive us for the indifference and even hatred we show to others. Forgive us for forgetting that your Spirit empowers us. Pardon us for these and all of our sins, as we continue to confess in silence…
Silent Prayer
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Submitted by Chip Hardwick
Gracious God, thank you for telling us what to do and also what not to do. We need your invitation. And we also need your wise prohibition. Help us, we pray, to receive all that you have for us with willing hearts.
Lord, you and I both know where I tend to dismiss or disobey your prohibitions. Forgive me for these trespasses. Help me even this day to heed your warnings, to not do certain things so that I might do that which leads to flourishing, both in my life and in the world around me. Amen.