In 1952, the United States Congress formally established the first Thursday of May each year as the National Day of Prayer. Over the years, this day has taken on many different layers of meaning as the political, social, and religious climate of our nation has shifted.
Today I have been invited to lead our community in prayer for the church and as I shared in my previous post I will lead the church in a prayer of confession and repentance. To help you in your own prayer today and to guide me in my preparations I will share with you the prayer I will be praying.
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Almighty God, as we gather together this day I pray on behalf of your church. I pray that to you all hearts would be open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord.
Your word says to us that “if my people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
We confess today, as your church, that we have not turned from our wicked ways and we humbly ask, Lord, that you would forgive us our sin.
We have judged the sin and lifestyle choices in the lives of those outside of your church while continuing in our own idolatry and sexual immorality our own sin, within the church.
Lord forgive us our sin.
We have not sought freedom for the prisoner.
We have neglected and ignored the poor among us.
We have not sheltered the orphan and cared for the widow.
We have not welcomed the stranger and immigrant in our midst.
Lord forgive us our sin.
You gave us domain over this earth, but we have exploited your natural resources without regard for the generations that will follow us. And we have used your scripture to justify our negligence.
Lord forgive us our sin.
We have implicitly supported child labor and the slavery of people by demanding lower prices for our goods at the expense of the poor and vulnerable.
We have accumulated more and more stuff. We have built bigger buildings and bigger houses. We have amassed great wealth in our storehouses and barns. (Luke 12:16-21) We have enslaved ourselves to debt and mortgaged the future of our children. And we have done all of this while our brother and sister live with no shelter. Starve with no food. And die from contaminated water.
Lord forgive us our sin.
We have made our citizenship in this land and our nationality central while forgetting we are citizens of the Kingdom of God. We have intermingled and intermarried with the kingdoms around us, even this very kingdom which we reside in today.
Lord forgive us our sin.
Your word says to us that in Christ Jesus we are all children of God through faith, for all of us were baptized into Christ and have clothed ourselves with Christ. Therefore there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, black or white, nor citizen or immigrant, Asian or Hispanic, neither rich or poor, educated or uneducated for we are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26-28) We confess that our churches on Sunday morning do not reflect the unity you describe. We have chosen to be comfortable in that which is familiar rather than risk being changed by the other.
Lord forgive us our sin.
We have complained about our own suffering and trials. We have claimed persecution and exclusion while ignoring our brothers and sisters who die daily because of their faith in you.
Lord forgive us our sin.
We have become known as people of war and not peace.
People of justice and not mercy.
People of judgment and not forgiveness.
People of hate and not love.
People of division and not unity.
Lord forgive our sin.
So, Lord, we pray that you would make us instruments of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith,
Where there is despair, hope,
Where there is darkness, light,
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that we may not so much
seek to be consoled as to console,
not so much to be understood as to understand,
not so much to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
it is in dying that we awake to eternal life.
(Prayer of Saint Francis)
We pray these things in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Amen
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We we the church, those who call themselves the people of God, would turn from our own sin, irregardless of the lifestyle choices and values expressed by those who do not claim any form of a relationship with Jesus, our planet would be transformed. This I believe. And it begins with our confession and repentance.
Pastor Stephen