Our Father and God, You have established Your Church as a royal priesthood in this world, and so we intercede for the nations of men now, confessing on their behalf so that the grace of Your forgiveness will soon be extended to them all.
Father, we confess that we as a people have drifted into a wrong-headed definition of love, in
which we define it as acting in line with our opinions and intentions. We do this instead of lining up with Your holy Word, and we confess that our Congress, our judges, our president, our cultural leaders, our artists, and our pundits all do this. They do this because they are representing us accurately. We confess this grief.
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 believers have accepted this false definition of lawless love within our congregations, and we have lived accordingly. Forgive us for this sin, we pray.
And Father, we confess our own sins to You now—and Selah . . . We do this in the kind name of Jesus, and amen.
God has summoned us here, and He has given His ministers the words and assurances found in the gospel, the message of the death and resurrection of Jesus. On the basis of that message, I declare to you that your sins are forgiven through Christ.
Congregation: Thanks be to God!