Prayer of Confession, Easter 4C

Call to Confession

The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23) Let us confess our sin before God and seek God's life-giving mercy.

Prayer of Confession, Easter 4C

We want to do good works, Lord.
We have very good intentions.
But we are too busy,
too absorbed in our own business
to focus on the concerns of our neighbor.

We want to respond when called, Lord.
We tell ourselves we will.
But when the call comes,
we are in meetings
or trying to catch up on tasks
and we trust that someone else will do it.

We want to be healing agents in the world, Lord.
We say we believe in the power of prayer.
But when the time comes to pray,
we hedge our bets,
and call it your will when our prayers don't work
the way we tell ourselves they should.

Forgive us for our complacency,
our apathy,
our lack of action, Lord.
Forgive our self-importance
and our self-absorption.
Inspire in us a spirit of compassion
and a strength of faith
that we might serve others in your name
with mercy and with expediency.

Assurance of God's Grace

God has promised that when we confess our sin, God who is faithful and just, will forgive us our sin, removing it as far as the east is from the west and remembering it no more. In the name of the risen Christ, we are forgiven. Thanks be 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 all whom you encounter this day.