Prayer of confession

This prayer of confession was used to Seward Memorial United Methodist Church today:

"Compassionate and merciful God, we confess that we sometimes ignore our responsibilities to you and to humanity.  If ever we trample on the rights of others while asserting our own right: God forgive.  If ever we sit by the sidelines, doing nothing, but criticizing those who do:  God forgive.  If ever, by our example and deed, we hurt little ones or cause them to do wrong:  God forgive.  Grant, O God, that our lives might be flavored with the Spirit of Jesus Christ, as salt flavors food.  Amen."

A Call to Confession

I'm a little behind on posting Pastor Peter Perry's (Seward Memorial United Methodist Church) beautiful calls to confession. Here is the one from July 12th.

Lord, we confess together that the world isn't what we want it to be, and neither are we.

We sing of peace on earth that begins with me. But we often do not know peace; not in our hearts, our families, our community, nor most assuredly, in our world. Merciful God, you have placed a longing in our hearts, but we confess that we grow tired of searching, that we too often worship the past and refuse to build the future. We remember the words that the people will perish without a vision. Do not let us perish, Lord. Forgive our failure to vision and hope, and help us to see all that you have prepared for us, in this life and the next. Now, God, look into our hearts and hear our individual prayers of confession as we greet you in silence.

A Call to Confession

My good friend Pastor Peter Perry at the Seward Memorial United Methodist Church is an amazing man and pastor. Every week he develops a call to the confession. I find them always challenging and very insightful. Here is the call from the service today:

Lord, we offer up our confession:

As children we learned to sing, "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight." But sometimes, as adults, we find ways to deny this truth, or confess it to be only partly true; for lurking in our minds is the sinful suspicion that God would certainly love all the children a bit more if they were more like us. Lord, help us to reorder our understanding of your world that instead of remaking it in our image, we might remake ourselves in your image. Now hear our personal words of confession, whispered to you in our hearts.

Prayer of Confession and Assurance

from the service today at the Seward Memorial United Methodist Church.

Emptier of tombs, roller of stones, sender of angels, wiper of tears, breaker of bread, sharer of cup, bringer of grace, inspirer of beauty, source of wisom ... God of Easter, we draw near to you in prayer.

Lord, hear our prayer.

Look into our hearts and see the places where we need you the most... the places of regret and guilt, the places of fear and sadness, the places of sin and selfishness, the places of loneliness and despair.


Lord, hear our prayer.

Look into our hearts and see the places where we often forget you...the places of joy and accomplishments, the places of wonder and awe, the places of welcome and forgiveness, the places of learning and beauty.


Lord, hear our prayer.

Lord, we need you in good and bad...help us to trust in the names by which we know you, in the faith that proclaims our God to be a God of Easter, of renewal, of possibility, of promise, or life.


Lord, hear our prayer.

Not everything has been revealed to us, but this we do know: as God's children, we are blessed, we are loved, we are forgiven!

Our lives are transformed by the abundance of love that flows from Easter's empty tomb. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Prayer of Confession

Once again a wonderful Prayer of Confession and Words of Assurance from the service this morning at Seward United Methodist Memorial Church.

Let us pray together:

God, we are broken people and we always have been. Despite individual celebrations of triumph and accomplishment, despite science and technology that would leave our ancestors in amazement, despite knowledge that expands faster than anyone can master, despite all the wonders of our civilized world, we remain broken people. We are broken by warfare and violence, we are broken by disease and infirmity, we are broken by grief and despair, we are broken by prejudice and hatred and fear, we are broken by selfishness and greed, and we are broken by sin...

O God, source of life and love, and hope for our healing, hear now, as we pray in silence, the confession of our personal brokenness.


Merciful and forgiving God, you promise us healing in our broken places, and so we come before you today as ones who are sick come to a physician.

Heal us and breathe into us once more the breath of God. Amen.