Leader: God’s call rings out through the world, God’s message to us.
People: God calls us to come back, to fast and weep, and ask for forgiveness.
Leader: We need to change our entire lives, what is inside of us, not just outside.
People: For our God is loving and compassionate.
Leader: We enter this season of Preparation by returning to the LORD.
All: Together, let us sound the trumpet and worship God!
submitted by Rev. Will Ryan, First Christian Church Burlington IA
confession
Confession: God shines
The presence of God shines all around us, and yet our faces are buried in our phones, and our minds are on the tasks that are left undone, oblivious to the miracle of the Holy Spirit that surrounds. Let us together lift up our heads and open our eyes to see the work of God that abounds.
God of the snowfall and coming spring,
Spirit of the journey that leads us to the height of the mountain,
We open our hearts to you and to one another
the many ways we fall short to live into the fullness of life in you.
We create schedules that add to the burden,
And further shelter us from hearing your voice.
We add to the shadows finding the worst in the world around us,
Rather than living as instruments of your hope.
How quick we add to the discord with one another,
unable to see your face in our neighbor
in our disagreements we often miss the transference
of our own scars, disappointments, and should haves,
Help us again today to be renewed by your ever flowing grace
and unending love
Open all of who we are to your holy imagination of who we are yet to become restoring us in your glory. Praise be to God.
Submitted by Rev. Rob Smith, Spirit of Life Presbyterian, Apple Valley, MN
Confession: new order
Prayer of Confession
God of grace and mercy,
You create a new order for our lives:
Service before success,
Faith before knowledge,
Partnership over independence,
The cross over the crown.
Forgive us when we fall into the patterns of this world,
Rejecting your call through our action or inaction.
Forgive us, God, and move us to see the world through lens of your great love.
Forgive us, God, and grant us peace.
Assurance of Pardon
God forgives us of our sins,
Not because we are righteous, but because God is good.
God calls us to try again,
Not because we are strong, but because God will help us.
God calls us as disciples,
Not because we are worthy, but because we are loved.
God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom,
and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
Through the love of God in Christ Jesus, we are forgiven.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
Submitted by Rev. Anna George Traynham, Associate Pastor, Central Presbyterian Church, Atlanta, GA
confession: in the desert
God who comes where we least expect, your prophets spoke of the coming Messiah as new life growing in dry land, a desert teeming with flowers. Yet we forget the prophecy, and so in our own desolate landscapes see only poverty and despair, frustration and rejection. In this Advent, when we await Your coming, we confess our failure of imagination: our inability to believe You could possibly change the shape of the world.
And yet we know that You have come, long ago, to a forgotten corner of the world, to a people on the verge of losing hope, to a woman no one thought could bear a child, and the world has never been the same. Hear us as we pray, that we might find flowers in the desert and celebrate life where it seems impossible. May we look to the darkness of our time and discover there a Light like no other, waiting to shine in us, in whose name we pray, Amen.
Submitted by Rev. Laura Cunningham, Western Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C.
confession: how shall I meet you?
Advent is a season of singing.
We sing as we prepare our hearts to receive Jesus.
Let us sing and pray our confession together:
O Lord, How Shall I Meet You v. 1-2
Even as we praise God’s boundless love,
we recognize that we are among that “lost and fallen race” called humanity.
In silence, let us confess our sin before God.
Silent prayers
Friends, there is good news!
We are set free from our sin, and we can sing God’s great mercy:
O Lord, How Shall I Meet You v. 3
Submitted by Rev. Nathan Williams Echo Hill Presbyterian Church, IA
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