a call to repentance

Our sermon on Sunday was on repentance with the thesis that mankind's chief folly is the rejection of reality because it does not fit with their ideal for life. We ended the sermon with a powerful community prayer of repentance and I wanted to share portions of it.

Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world,
empower us to wake up to God’s truth
and turn from our falsehood.

Heavenly Father…
For the many ways we’ve conformed to the
pattern of this world instead of to the image
of Jesus Christ;
We repent and ask for your forgiveness

For living like we were on vacation rather than
as soldiers in a battle;
We repent and ask for your forgiveness

For seeking first the “American Dream”rather
than the Kingdom of God;
We repent and ask for your forgiveness

For consuming more than we need when
brothers and sisters around the world go
without;
We repent and ask for your forgiveness

For the ways we have reduced you to a tribal
God who is on “our side” instead of on the side
of all humans;
We repent and ask for your forgiveness

Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world,
empower us to wake up to God’s truth
and turn from our falsehood.

Heavenly Father…
For having more confidence in the ways of
Caesar than the ways of the Cross;
We repent and ask for your forgiveness

For hating our enemies rather than loving
and serving them;
We repent and ask for your forgiveness

For failing to submit every aspect of our daily
lives to you;
We repent and ask for your forgiveness

For being too busy to notice the hurting,
lonely and lost in our midst;
We repent and ask for your forgiveness

For our unwillingness to pursue relationships
with people whose appearance and culture is
different than our own;
We repent and ask for your forgiveness

For esteeming some people as more important
than others;
We repent and ask for your forgiveness

For not being outraged by the violence and
injustice in the world;
We repent and ask for your forgiveness

Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world,
empower us to wake up to God’s truth
and turn from our falsehood.

Heavenly Father…
For believing the lies people have told us about
ourselves rather than trusting your word about
us, spoken on Calvary;
We repent and ask for your forgiveness

For allowing the promiscuity of our culture to
influence our sexual attitudes and behavior;
We repent and ask for your forgiveness

For judging others as worse sinners than
ourselves;
We repent and ask for your forgiveness

For allowing ourselves to fall into the bondage
of strongholds and addictions;
We repent and ask for your forgiveness

For gossiping and slandering people rather
than blessing them;
We repent and ask for your forgiveness

For praying too little and watching television
too much;
We repent and ask for your forgiveness

For all the lies we’ve told and all the things
we’ve stolen;
We repent and ask for your forgiveness

For failing to live out the radical call of the
Jesus-looking Kingdom
We repent and ask for your forgiveness