Prayer of Confession, Pentecost +9, Year A

Call to Confession

God is ready to overwhelm you with more blessings than you could ever imagine so that you’ll always be taken care of in every way and you’ll have more than enough to share. Remember what is written about the One who trusts in the Lord:

(God) scattered abroad; (God) gave freely to the poor;
(God's) righteousness endures throughout the ages.
(2 Corinthians 9:8-9) Let us confess our faithlessness before God and seek God's mercy.

Prayer of Confession, Pentecost +9, Year A

Provider God,
forgive us.
We challenge you, saying,
"Can God fill a table with food in the middle of the desert?
Can God provide bread enough to supply God's children?"
We doubt you.
We question your power.
We do not believe you can or will work
through us.
So we hedge our bets
and trust in our own abilities instead.
We plant large fields, but our harvests are small.
We have food to eat, but not enough to satisfy.
We have water to drink, but it is never enough.
We have clothes to wear, but they do not keep us warm.
We have money in our pockets, but it runs out quickly,
as if there were holes in our pockets.
The problem is not you, O God.
The problem is us.
We hoard what we have out of greed and fear
instead of sharing with others out of an abundance of faith
and blessing.
Forgive us, we pray.
Grant us courage to give the small gift we have to offer
knowing that your capacity to expand that gift
to bless so many to full and overflowing
is beyond our capacity to begin
to understand.
Teach us to share with our neighbor in need
in the name of love.

Assurance of God's Grace

The same One who has put seed into the hands of the sower and brought bread to fill our stomachs will provide and multiply the resources (we) invest and produce an abundant harvest from (God's) righteous actions. (We) will be made rich in everything so that (God's) generosity will spill over in every direction. Through us (God's) generosity is at work inspiring praise and thanksgiving to God. (2 Corinthians 9:10-11) 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 day~