Prayers of Confession on Sleep
Lord Jesus, we have been slumbering
We have not expected you to be active in our lives
And we have allowed ourselves to be distracted from your love
We have not seen you in the lives of others
And we have thought ourselves more important than them
We have not expected to hear your voice
And we have put our faith in other things and people
Thinking they will save us
Shine your light into the darkness of our hearts once again, Holy Spirit
Wake us from our apathy
Open our ears to hear your word
And our mouths to give you praise
Amen.
Jacob Traeger
(Prayer of Adoration)
Good morning, Father. While we slept last night – You were awake, sustaining our world, protecting us and readying a new day.
Jesus – You hold us in the palms of Your hands: strong hands, compassionate hands, firm hands, healing hands, hands that heal, hands that are nail-scarred still, now and forever, such is the duration of Your love.
And Spirit – our Comforter, generous and powerful: You gift and equip us with all things necessary to live today for Your glory [Father, Son and Holy Spirit] and to our joy.
We praise You for who You are; we thank You for all Your good gifts to us … and we look forward to when You’ll return to clean up the mess and take us home.
(Prayer of Confession)
Yet, if we’re honest, we don’t live anticipating Your Advent arrival with joy and gratitude. We’ve got too many things we want to experience. We subtly say, “Lord – not yet; not until I get what I want, or do what I want.” We live unprepared for Your coming. We care more for ourselves than for others. Our eyes are closed to another’s pain and our hearts break over the wrong things – a lost football game rather than a lost soul, a lost child or a lost city.