Prayers of Confession on Pain

Inspired by Psalm 130

Out of the depths, we cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear our voice. Let your ears be attentive to our cries for mercy. Living in frailty and weakness with adversity in our path, we too often buckle in despair. We doubt your goodness. We seek crutches of our own design aimed at comfort and relief, but which do nothing to heal or restore. In our pain, we deny the greater story that has been told and is being told by the resurrection of our Lord.  Though our bodies waste away, we will live with the power of the Spirit at work within us. Forgive us for our faltering faith in these momentary and fleeting troubles and forgetting the greater story of your resurrection life. Amen. 

Scott Bullock

Eternal God, our judge and redeemer, we confess that we have tried to hide from You, for we have done wrong. We have lived for ourselves, and apart from You. We have turned from our neighbors and refused to bear the burdens of others. We have ignored the pain of the world and passed by the hungry, the poor, and the oppressed. In Your great mercy, forgive our sins and free us from selfishness, that we may choose Your will and obey Your commandments through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Almighty God, we have failed to trust you.
Overwhelmed by the pains of life, we have taken charge and pushed you aside.
O God, be gracious to us. Remind us of your daily mercies and redemptive power that we might trust you in every part of our lives.

Submitted by Laura Murray

Adapted from “The Precious Blood” in The Valley of Vision

Leader: Blessed Lord Jesus, before your cross I kneel and see the heinousness of my sin, my iniquity that caused you to be made a curse, the evil that provokes divine wrath.

All: Show me the enormity of my guilt by the crown of thorns, the pierced hands and feet, the bruised body, the dying cries. Your blood is the blood of incarnate God; its worth is infinite, and its value is beyond all thought.

Leader: Sin is my sickness, my monster, my foe, my enemy, born in my birth, alive in my life, strong in my character, intermingling with my every thought. Sinner that I am, why should the sun give me light?

All: Yet your compassions reach over me, your heart rushes to my rescue, your love endured my curse, your mercy bore the stripes I deserved. Let me walk in humiliation, bathed in your blood with a tender conscious, triumphing gloriously as an heir of salvation.

Submitted by Dustin Ray