Prayers of Confession on the World
Adapted from Psalm 10:1-7
Pastor: Heavenly Father, I confess that I have sinned against you. I have delighted my soul in other things more than I have in you. Why, then, is it any surprise to me that you feel far off from me? I have driven you away!
All: In my arrogance, I have enjoyed the comforts of this world while I care too little that the poor cannot feed or care for themselves. Because of my greed, I boast of all that I have and all that I desire.
Pastor: In one moment, I believe that I’m invincible, able to withstand any problem or struggle. In the next moment, I believe that the evil all around me is out to get me. My mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression; under my tongue are mischief and iniquity.
All: O God, forgive me of my sin. Look on me with mercy, and give me grace to delight in you, rather than in my sin. Lift me out of this pit of sin, cleanse me of my unrighteousness, and fill me with your Holy Spirit so that I might walk in holiness and obey your commandments.
Submitted by Dustin Ray
(Prayer of Adoration)
Great God our Father: You are good and You are strong.
You are faithful and true,
and You won’t tempt or lie to us.
In a world that appeals to our sinful cravings
and dominated by spin:
You alone are worthy of our trust, loyalty and love.
You alone have loved us with such an everlasting love
as to give Your Son or us.
You alone never abandon us, living with and within us
by Your Holy Spirit.
(Prayer of Confession)
Yet, we so easily trade Your truth for a lie,
and substitute our lusts for Your love.
We blame others for our errors and for our wanton sin.
We close our eyes to the truth about who we are
and run from the truth of who You are.
Forgive us for choosing to love and live for the world:
by following our own cravings,
giving into the lust of our eyes, and
boasting of who we are,
what we’ve done and what we’ve got.
Hear us as we say,
in whispers too soft for any one else to hear but You,
the sin we’re too ashamed to let anyone else know
but You who know all about us and love us anyway.
Hear our silent confessions of sin: (PAUSE)
Merciful and Holy God, We bow before You in heartfelt confession, acknowledging that we are a broken people, living in a broken world. This world is dark with the stain of sin. Your design for creation has been corrupted by the abuse of power, the appetite for lust, and the enslavement of our wills. We allow evil to go unchallenged, and become passive and indifferent to Your call to engage the world with the Gospel. Forgive our sinfulness. Our sins of commission and omission have separated us from You, from others, and from the world You seek to redeem. Amen
Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church
O God of grace and truth: We confess it is all too easy for us to sacrifice convictions for convenience, standards for status, principles for promotion, absolutes for ambition. We are readily seduced by power and prestige, by pleasures and possessions. From what the world offers, we turn to You unfulfilled. Forgive our half-heartedness and our double-mindedness. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer. Renew and refresh us through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church
Almighty God,
we often look to the words of the world, rather than your Word.
We follow the opinions of acquaintances, the popularity of celebrities, and the drive of leaders.
We look all around us before we look to you.
Father, forgive us and remind us of your Word and your ways.
May we build our lives on your truth, love, hope, and strength,
that we might lead others to you.
Submitted by Laura Murray
Loving God, you spoke the earth into motion. Your words have that much power. So instead of continuing to speak to you, we silence ourselves Please show us our sins and forgive us for them as we listen to your still small voice in this time of silence…
Submitted by Austin D. Hill
Gracious God, we don’t live as Christ did. Although You give us specific instructions for an ordered way of life that stands out from the rest of the world, we settle for lukewarm Christianity. Our lives reflect our culture and we don’t transform it. Please help us to be more obedient as we silently confess our sins to You now…
Submitted by Austin D. Hill
Loving and forgiving God, we confess that we find it easier to follow the crowd than to follow you. We seek the praise of other humans, rather than seeking to give you joy with our faithfulness. When you call us to display values which do not make any sense to the world, we often disobey. Forgive us for these and for all of our sins, as we continue to pray in silence.
Silent Prayer
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Submitted by Chip Hardwick
God of grace and mercy, how often we choose to set our eyes on things below rather than things above. We allow ourselves to be ruled by our calendars rather than our King. We honor our own comfort before honoring our Lord. We are consumed by petty concerns, but give lip service to holy concerns. For these things, and for many other sins, we ask for Your forgiveness. We do not yet know how to live. As You forgive us, we also ask that You might raise our eyes heavenward, and remind us of the greater story of Your love which we so often forget. We ask this in the Name of the One making His Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
Source Unknown
Dear Lord, we come to You this morning first to give You our worship and praise. You are the King, You are the Lord, You are the one who did indeed create us and give us life. You never leave us. You are always reaching out Your hand to lift us up. We praise You. But we also come because we need to confess our sins to You, to open the hidden places of our hearts before You. We too often arrange our lives around the idols of this world and not around You. We want what others have or what they tell us to want. We are afraid of rejection by the world, forgetting that You are the only one we need to serve. We look for love in ways that will never bring us peace or lasting joy. Please forgive us. In Jesus’ Name we pray.
Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church
Dear Lord, we stand before You this day, remembering that You have called us to come before You in prayer and confession. We confess that we often choose not to remember that we belong to You and instead give our allegiance to the world. We forget that You are constantly reaching out to us in love and grace, offering the better way. We confess that we are sinful, stubborn, and unresponsive. We think, say, and do things that hurt You, others, and ourselves. We get stuck in our ways and can’t or won’t listen to Your voice. Please forgive us. Pour out Your Holy Spirit on us. Breathe into us Your forgiveness, hope, and joy. Restore to us the joy of Your salvation and grant us a willing spirit to sustain us. In the name of Jesus we pray.
Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church
We pray to You our Lord, our Savior, our Merciful God, that all our sins may be forgiven. Our sins are like a straight jacket, binding us, and keeping us from relationship with You. Although we know we cannot free ourselves from our sins through our own strength, we still try. We’ve been lost. Haunted by our own materialistic wants and allured by the world’s definition of success, we’ve shunned You from our lives in hopes of finding happiness. Yet You wait for us with wide open arms. Free us from our worldly wants and sins. Wash us in Your power. We call upon Your grace, love, and mercy as we confess our sins and ask for your forgiveness. Help us to live in a way that brings You glory and honor, and use us to further Your kingdom. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church
May God bless you with a restless discomfort
about easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships,
so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.
May God bless you with holy anger
at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.
May God bless you with the gift of tears
to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish,
so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.
May God bless you with enough foolishness
to believe that you really can make a difference in this world,
so that you are able, with God’s grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.
A Franciscan Blessing
(Prayer of Adoration)
God, our heavenly Father
and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ:
We praise and thank you today and always!
You are worthy of our praise
simply for who You are:
You are good and You are strong,
You are gracious, just and loving.
As we confront this world that lacks hope,
a world caught up in war, hunger, poverty and
spiritual emptiness,
in Your great mercy You freely give us a new birth
into the living hope
through Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.
There is no darkness so great
that your light is not greater still.
There is not conflict so disruptive
that your peace cannot quell it.
There is no death so final,
that your resurrection life
cannot break its icy grip. And, …
There is no thief so sneaky or strong
that he can steal the inheritance you give
that can never perish, spoil or fade—
kept in heaven for us.
Therefore, we rightly worship You!
(Prayer of Confession)
However, we are quick to trust
our strength more than yours,
our wisdom more than yours,
our abilities more than yours,
our resources more than yours.
our love more than yours.
And our misplaced trust in ourselves
has led us into sin.
Forgive us, Lord for all these ways
we have placed ourselves above you,
In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.
Leader: We are people of the resurrection. Witnesses to God’s glorious victory in Jesus Christ, which brings peace and transforms the power structures of this world.
But we also know that we live in the tension between the now and the not-yet. We are participants in Christ’s new life – but at the same time we find ourselves still clinging to the old age. So we confess our sin, our brokenness, our turning against God and his ways, how we’ve done that both individually and collectively.
All: God of resurrection life, hope, and peace
We confess that too often we are not peaceful
You have brought light, but we focus on the darkness
We have doubts and anxieties about our lives
About our nation
About our world
Instead of loving others, we are fearful of them
We seek to hide ourselves away in safety
Rather than live in vulnerable relationship with the world
As our brother Jesus Christ does
We need your Holy Spirit in our lives
Turn our hearts towards you
Take away our fear and self-centeredness
Make our trust in you stronger than our trust in ourselves
And bring us peace
Amen
Leader: Hear the good news. God is not absent, distant, dead. He is alive! Christ is risen! In him death has been defeated and life has been restored.
In Christ, God comes to those who don’t trust. God comes to those who are scared and anxious. God comes to you, and says “your sins are forgiven.” There is nothing left to fear. God is with you – God is for you and on your side.
Submitted by Jacob Traeger
Great and gracious God, we have run after things and others instead of coming home to You.
We have lived as though we were the centers of our universe.
We have avoided the harder issues in life so others will approve of us.
We have let the world squeeze us into its mold, and refused to be transformed by your Spirit.
We laugh at what we should weep over, and grieve over things that are passing away that are unimportant in Your Kingdom.
We have thought evil of our brothers and sisters simply because they do not agree with us on things of this fleeting world.
Oh Lord, have mercy upon us. Restore us to the sanity of your ways and remind us of your infinite love and healing, and lead us in the way everlasting.
Mark Brewer
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