Father of all nations, we confess that we are conceived in sin, and formed in iniquity. We confess that the central iniquity is that of not trusting and believing You, and so we have sought to fashion our own importance out of the brief moments we have in this life. We measure ourselves by ourselves, and we are not wise. Father, we pray that You would forgive us this sin, and restore a sense of transcendence to us. We have lost it, Father, through our own folly. We have lost it.
Like a Toddler With Blocks
Father of all nations, we confess that we have found it too easy to trust in our horses and chariots, and not in You, the one who bestows military strength, and the one who takes it away. We confess that we have forgotten that You are the only one who establishes thrones and empires, and for You to topple them is easier than for a toddler to knock over a tower of blocks. Forgive us for trusting in our own strength. We do not despise the gift as a gift, but when we forget that You have done it, the gift turns to a blinding curse. Forgive us, Father, for seeking to be our own fortress and refuge.
Not National Boundary Lines
Father over all nations, we confess that it too easy for us to see everything from our own vantage, and to do so in a way that justifies ourselves. Together with many men, we flatter ourselves and say that as a nation we have no sin. We confess this to you. We also have a tendency to reject Your Word in the opposite way, by claiming that we have all sin, and that other nations and people don’t. We confess the twisted and distorted view that America is the focus of evil in the world. We confess ourselves sinners, like all men, but we do not locate the antithesis between righteousness and unrighteousness in terms of nations. Forgive us our confusions, we pray.
Our Own Glory
Father over all, we confess that as nation we have pursued our own glory, and we have not pursued righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, or gentleness. We confess this failing to You with grief, and we ask You to restore us again. We pray that we would repent of our self-sufficiency, and that we would acknowledge that only You can establish a throne in righteousness.
Spiritual Bone Cancer
Father in heaven, we know that rottenness in the bones is not simply a consequence of sin, but is the sin itself. When we are not being honest with You, we are trying to hide sin, or spin it, or explain it, or otherwise manage it. We confess to You that as a nation, we have this peculiar kind of bone cancer, and that we cannot make ourselves whole. We pray that Your Spirit would sweep across this nation, and turn us back to You. Turn us, Lord, and we will be turned. Save us, and we will be saved.
Propitiation or Wrath
Gracious Father, You are the one who sent Jesus Christ into the world, to be the propitiation for our sins. And yet, Father, we have tried to claim that we do not need this propitiation, which leaves us under Your righteous and holy wrath. Have mercy on us, we pray.
The Grace of Human Sexuality
Father in Heaven, You are the one who created us male and female, and it was one of Your great gifts to us. We confess to You now that our nation has fallen into a great confusion about this. We no longer even know what marriage is, and we have raging political debates over what ought to be the most obvious thing in the world. Father, we know that this problem is moral, and not intellectual. Forgive us our prideful confusion and ignorant arrogance, we pray.
Free and Full
Father of all mercies, we ask You to forgive us in accordance with all Your mercies, and not in accordance with what we deserve. We confess to You that as a nation, we have wanted to earn some measure of our standing before You, and so we ask You to pour out upon our people a real understanding of what salvation grace actually means. Help to understand our need for free and full forgiveness by making us recognize that we don’t deserve any of it.
Idolatry As Idolatry
Father God, Almighty God, we come before You now as citizens of a nation that has sought out many high places, and which has bowed down before many idols. We confess this sin of our people to You, and ask You to be merciful. We ask You to grant a great reformation, with the result that all false gods, and the complications and clutter they bring with them, are all swept away. Father, we are asking that our nation be delivered, not from a neutral secularism, but rather from a grievous idolatry.
Discarding the Word
Father in Heaven, You are the Father of all forgiveness, and we come before You representing a nation that has ingloriously discarded Your Word with regard to the honor that is due our fathers and our mothers, and our grandfathers and grandmothers. Father, we have sought to build communities out of materials that You never intended to the be the basis of a community. We pray for forgiveness for our people, Lord. We have been so easily distracted . . . by peers, by social media, and by every fad that comes through. Forgive us for this, we pray.
Oh, Yeah, Sez You . . .