LiturgyLink

a community creating for the relentless return of Sunday

You are here: Home / Archives for call to confession / declaration of forgiveness

call to confession / declaration of forgiveness

confession and assurance: your story for our lives

By Leave a Comment

It is said that we can touch the hearts of others only by first submitting to God our own missteps and mistakes. Let us bow our hearts in prayer and pray together:

Holy God, you are the great scribe of the universe, who writes our stories and chooses our names. But we often turn from the story you have planned – yes, even from the name you have called us, from our true selves inside. Help us to unify and reunite in your plan for us. Help us learn from our wounds that we should rely on your story for our lives. Make clear to us your vision, that we might follow it every day of our lives. Help us now to hear your name for us as we struggle with our sins and offer them to you in silence.

A time of silence for reflection

Friends – hear the good news! God knows us and our lives even before we are aware of God’s presence. In Christ, God showed us that even one who is fully divine and fully human can struggle with doubt, and yet have faith. Yes, even Jesus prayed the same prayer multiple times – and showed us that we could do so too. Let us forgive one another as God has forgiven us, and remember that we are not alone in our struggles with God!

submitted by Rev. Lucus Keppel, Corona United & Ancho Community Presbyterian Churches, New Mexico

confession: the corner of easy choices

By Leave a Comment

Call to Reconciliation
Despite our foolish and angry words, God continues to speak of mercy to us.
Despite our best efforts to be faithless in our living, God remains faithful
in keeping the promise to forgive us and restore us to wholeness.  Let us
confess our sins to God, so that God’s hope and grace might endure in our
brokenness.

Unison Prayer of Confession
God beyond borders, we know that on our way to worship, we may not have
noticed the exiles in our neighborhoods. We admit how easy it is for us to
wander down the streets of temptation, pausing at the corner of easy
choices. We fall silent in the presence of those who speak words of anger
and hate. We tolerate a culture that suspects all who are different from us.
Have mercy on us, O God, for surely you take the side of justice. Open
our hearts to all the wonders you are performing in our lives. You gift us
with those of other cultures, that our lives might be blessed.  You send us
friends out of places we least expect, that our community might be enriched.

You call us to be generous with our blessings, so others might be graces
with the gift of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Silence is kept

Assurance of Pardon
L:  God challenges us, God encourages us. God confronts us, and God accepts
us. God works wonders in our midst and gives us the eyes, the hearts, the
souls to see such miracles.
P:  God forgives us, God guides us through the wilderness of the world, God
leads us home.  Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

Submitted by Rev. Thom Shuman, Lectionary Liturgies.

confession: questions

By Leave a Comment

Often, the “simple” answers to life’s difficult problems cause us greater pain than the original problem did! By coming before God with our mistakes, we help to restore our community, and lay down the burdens on our soul. Let us bow our hearts in prayer.
Holy and beloved God, we struggle every day with the questions that plague us. Questions that we fear to utter to each other, certain that “they” have the answer that we don’t. We hold in our questions because we are afraid – either of the question itself, or what the answer may be. Help us to ask these questions – and forgive us for the questions we have left unasked or unanswered. Hear now the silent questions of our hearts.
A time of silence for reflection and prayer
Truly, our God is a God of questions. Whether the divine mystery of the Trinity, or the Psalmist’s “How long, O God?” the holy one of Israel answers our questions in God’s own time. But take heart! Jesus has promised us community in God, where our questions may lead to answer – or more questions – but are always safe to ask and be asked.
In Christ Jesus, God fulfilled promises of generations past, and we are assured that God will fulfill more promises to come!

Submitted by Rev. Lucus Keppel, Ancho Community Presbyterian Church & Corona United Presbyterian Church, New Mexico

confession: reform and transform

By Leave a Comment

Call to Reconciliation
Seeking to follow Jesus, we often wander down the wrong roads. Impatient
with God’s schedule, we rush off to do things our way. Let us confess our
foolishness, that we might receive God’s hope for our lives.

Unison Prayer of Confession
Your words are given to us, Author of Life, so we might be reformed,
but we are intent on changing others.  Your words are offered to us so we
might be transformed, but we are focused on conforming to our culture. Your
words are spoken to lead us into new life, but we hold our old ways tight to
our chests.
Forgive us, God of Wonder. Do not remember our sins, but continue to
touch us with your steadfast mercy. Show us how to be persistent in living
out our faith, even as you were so tenacious in offering us your grace and
life in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Silence is kept

Assurance of Pardon
L:  Jesus reminds us that we are to be resolute in our lives of faithfulness
and service.  The good news is that God is steadfast in filling us with love
and grace.
P:  We are forgiven people. May we live as sisters and brothers in Christ,
God’s children in word and deed, in hope and joy. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Submitted by Rev. Thom Shuman, Lectionary Liturgies.

confession: upside down kingdom

By Leave a Comment

PRAYER OF CONFESSION: Matthew 5:14-16

ALL: God of the upside down kingdom, reorient us; for we seek to hide what you would have shine. From our fall in Eden, we have been embarrassed by the fullness of our humanity, and in our shame and fear have hidden ourselves from you.

Forgive us, Lord, for it is truly our kingdoms which are upside down, and yours which is right side up. We need your help if we are to see the goodness of your creation, that we may rightly reflect Your goodness to the world. 

Oh God of light, make us to be Your light, for the sake of Your salvation …

… continue in silent prayer and meditation …

 

ONE: Lord in Your mercy, hear our prayer

ALL: Amen

 

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

ONE: Hear the good news! The God of creation is a proud and merciful creator.  We who bear God’s image may also expect to receive God’s grace. Though we have sought to recreate ourselves according to our shame and fear, we may be assured of this: If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation! The old has gone, and the new has come. Know that you are forgiven and be at peace!

ALL: Thanks be to God!  

 

Submitted by Will Norman, First Presbyterian Church, Atlanta GA