A confession from the Christian tradition

[pelagius]

I went to an early morning prayer service and prayed this prayer with about a dozen other early risers. It was very moving and I thought of how the world might be different if some of our self-appointed guardians of "Christian decency" prayed this way from their heart:

Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.

Most holy and merciful Father:
We confess to you and to one another,
and to the whole communion of saints
in heaven and on earth,
that we have sinned by our own fault
in thought, word, and deed;
by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.

Have mercy on us, Lord.

We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit.

Have mercy on us, Lord.

We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives,

We confess to you, Lord.

Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation of other people,

We confess to you, Lord.

Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves,

We confess to you, Lord.

Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and our dishonesty in daily life and work,

We confess to you, Lord.

Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to commend the faith that is in us,

We confess to you, Lord.

Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done: for our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty,

Accept our repentance, Lord.

For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us,

Accept our repentance, Lord.

For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us,

Accept our repentance, Lord.

Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us;

Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great.

Accomplish in us the work of your salvation,

That we may show forth your glory in the world.

By the cross and passion of your Son our Lord,

Bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection.

Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen.

[RevCheesehead]

1. Is that in the BCP?

It's beautiful.
I am only familiar with the shorter versions of this prayer, but I'll be looking for a chance to use this sometime.

[pelagius]

2. The first part is from the 1979 BCP...

...but I'm not sure about the litany (the second part) -- I'll ask the deacon who led the service.

[pelagius]

4. The prayer and litany came from the website...

...www.missionstclare.com, which I highly recommend for those interested in the Daily Office, a form of Christian devotion based on the ancient monastic "hours" -- breaks at regular intervals made for prayer, scripture reading, and worship.

The passage was in the service for Friday, September 23. I don't know the source from which Mission St. Clare obtained the prayers, but I do know there are many, many "supplemental texts" floating around the Episcopal Church, many of them written at the local church level.

[CBHagman]

3. Just printed that out.

I've been stewing in envy and a judgmental attitude lately, and just about two weeks ago the readings at Sunday mass concerned forgiveness -- God's generosity and human stinginess in that regard, and what is required of us. The Gospel was that problematic one about the servant who was forgiven a great debt and then shows no mercy to a fellow servant who owes him a bit of money. Sobering to consider.

Thanks for posting that prayer.