Call to Confession: 

As we enter into a time of confession together, a way we regularly take seriously our sin and lay it before God, let’s prepare our hearts by hearing these words from Psalm 32:

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

    I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,

    which must be curbed with bit and bridle,

    or it will not stay near you.

Many are the sorrows of the wicked,

    but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.

Prayer of Confession: 

O Lord, our God,

Help us and heal us. We can be such stubborn and blind people who repeatedly wander from you. In our blindness, even our ability to confess has been distorted. We sometimes speak these words out of obligation instead of out of a deep awareness of our need for you.  

Help us this week to come to you. Not out of the anxiety of our unbelief, or out of hopelessness or fear — but help us come to you with the confidence that you love us and have invited us into this blessing of repentance and forgiveness. Thank you for your mercy, Amen.

Assurance of Pardon: 

In the scriptures we find assurances of our forgiveness and encouragement in our walk.  So hear these words from Lamentations 3, and rest in its truth for us today:

This I call to mind,

    and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

    his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

    great is your faithfulness.

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,

    “therefore I will hope in him.”