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 acknowledge our sin to You, bowing beneath the weight of Your holy justice. We have wanted to define justice for ourselves, and we have wanted to order our lives together apart from Your Word. Father, we confess that instead of living by every word that proceeds from You, we have asked our politicians and entertainers to speak constantly, so that we might live by their words. We confess to You now that we recognize that apart from Your Word, our words can only be hollow and empty.
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 have given ourselves to nebulous Christian traditions, instead of giving ourselves over to Your Word. Speak to us, Father, but so that we might not be crushed, we pray that You would speak words of forgiveness to us first.
We also confess our individual sins to You—and Selah . . . We do this in the great name of Jesus, and amen.
The grace of God is a hiding place, a fortress, a place of refuge. When you have resorted there, His grace cleanses you from all filth, and that place of refuge becomes a place for singing. I therefore declare that your sins are forgiven through Christ.
Congregation: Thanks be to God!