Call to Confession:

As we enter into a time of confession together, let’s prepare our hearts by hearing these words from James 2:

Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Didn’t God choose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? Yet you have dishonored the poor. Don’t the rich oppress you and drag you into court? Don’t they blaspheme the good name that was invoked over you? Indeed, if you fulfill the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well. If, however, you show favoritism, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

Prayer of Confession:

Great Rescuing God,

We don’t like to admit it, but we are often weak sinners. We find it easy to move toward people who make us feel good, comfortable, and important. But we distance ourselves from others who need your love. We have hated, ignored, gossiped, or avoided those you’ve called us to love and extend grace to.

Father, forgive us. Deliver us from ourselves; we are weary of our sinful weakness. Jesus, remind us often that all of our sin is paid for — past, present, and future. May this truth give us courage to see our hearts clearly, to confess our sin readily, to repent quickly, and to try hard to love all those around us, even those that sin against us or that we find harder to love. Thank you for your unending mercy and grace, Amen.

Assurance of Pardon:

In the scriptures we find assurances of our forgiveness and encouragement in our walk. So hear these words from Colossians 2 and rest in their truth for us:

You were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self. But God made you alive with Christ. And God forgave all our sins. We owed a debt because we broke God’s laws. That debt listed all the rules we failed to follow. But God forgave us that debt. He took away that debt and nailed it to the cross. God defeated the spiritual rulers and powers. With the cross God won the victory and defeated them.