Here’s
a prayer of confession from Rev. Eliza Buchakjian-Tweedy. It is inspired by
events in Mark 10-11.
Prayer of Confession
(inspired by Mark
10:32 – 11:11)
Holy one, beloved of
God,
we rally to your side
cheering and waving,
caught up in the
excitement and the drama of the procession.
We join the
procession
with prophecy and
song echoing in our minds:
singing of the
triumph of God
over the enemies who
have held us captive.
We cry,
"Hosanna! Save us!"
while believing
ourselves saved already.
In your mercy, O
Christ, forgive us.
Forgive us the desire
for power,
and the willingness
to replace one empire with another.
Forgive us when we
think that knowing you for a long time
means a privileged
place in your Kingdom.
Forgive us when we
would push away those who seek to know you;
when we consider
others too sinful, too distasteful,
too blind to be part
of our company.
Forgive us when our
desire to follow
ends with the joyful
procession,
and refuses to hear
about the inevitable outcome
of speaking truth to
the powerful,
or speaking love to
the fearful.
Forgive us our failure
to follow.
Forgive us our
failure to love.
Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
Assurance of Pardon
The
eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and
the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Even
we shall believe,
even
we shall be led back to faith,
by
the grace and mercy of the one
who
never stops seeking after this beloved Creation.
We
are loved, we are forgiven.
Thanks be to
God! Amen.
~ written by Eliza Buchakjian-Tweedy, Senior Pastor
at First Church Congregational, Rochester, NH. She blogs at http://sermonizing.wordpress.com/
