Prayer of Confession, E2B

Call to Confession

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. (i Cor. 12:12-14) Let us confess together the ways in which we sin against God and against one another.

Prayer of Confession

Once, in the glow of resurrection,
God's people united
and cared for one another
and sold their possessions,
so that those who had
could share with those
who didn't.
But God's people became
self-righteous
and greedy
​and divisive
and judgmental
and began to hoard their possessions
rather than share them generously
because individual needs
became more important
than the needs of the community,
because the one who has the money
has power,
and God's people liked having power.
They forgot that true power
is in humility and service.
We are those people.
Forgive us, God,
and teach us to share,
so that all may have what they need
to thrive.


Assurance of God's Grace

God said, "I will give them one[a] heart, and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, so that they may follow my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God." (Ez. 11:19-20) In the name of the risen Christ, God has done what God has promised, forgiving God's people, and reconciling us to God.

Since God has forgiven us in Christ, let us also forgive one another. The peace of Christ be with you.
Please extend the peace of Christ to everyone you encounter this day.