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.
We know, Father, that if we in the Church regard iniquity in our own midst, or in our own hearts, this prayer will be ineffectual.
Father, we confess that we in the Church have thought we could have a privatized faith, a set of beliefs that were part of our “core values,” but which other people had no obligation to adopt. But Father, we confess to You now that we don’t really believe something if we think that it is optional for others. Forgive us our faithlessness. Forgive us particularly for not believing that Jesus rose from the dead in the way we ought to believe it.
Father, we confess our own sins to You now—and Selah . . . We pray this in the strong name of Jesus, and amen.
What God cleans is truly clean. What God makes white is beyond white. This is what He does for your soul through the gospel. As a minister of His gospel, I declare to you that your sins are forgiven through Christ.
Thanks be to God.