Prayer of Confession, P+23B

Call to Confession

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. (Matthew 23:23) Let us confess the ways we have failed to live up the law of love, and seek God's mercy.

Prayer of Confession

Here we are again, God,
disputing with one another
about whose theology is "right,"
about who you are
and what you represent,
about your Word among and within us,
and how to live out our beliefs.
We dig our heels in
and refuse to budge
in matters of communal living,
so that communal
becomes the very least of what we are.
Forgive us.
We have forgotten how to love
anyone 
but
ourselves.
We have failed the courses you taught us
on compassion
and mercy,
on justice
and faith,
on peacemaking
and self-sacrifice.
Forgive us again, we pray,
and teach us how to love as you love:
unconditionally
and with our whole being.

Assurance of God's Grace

For through the law [we] died to the law, so that [we] might live to God. [We] have been crucified with Christ; (Galatians 2:19) In the name of Jesus 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 week.