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, Your Word calls us to forgiveness, and in calling to be forgiven, we are summoned to be agents of that same forgiveness. We confess, Father, that our nation has been complicit in animosities that are far removed from the kindness and forgiveness that is found in Your character. Whether these animosities have been racial, or regional, or partisan, we confess them all to You, and call upon You to forgive us as a people.
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, every week we ask You to forgive us in just the same way that we forgive others. We confess to You now that we have too often allowed this be mere religious verbiage. We confess that we, the people who are called by Your name, have too often wanted to be known as forgiving people more than we have actually wanted to forgive those who have wronged us. Forgive us for this, we pray.
We now confess our individual sins to You—and Selah . . . We do this in the great name of Jesus, and amen.
God loves to give good gifts to His children. He loves to do this far more than we do, and we love it. Cleansing from sin is one such good thing, and so I say to you that your sins are forgiven through Christ.
Congregation: Thanks be to God!