Here is a prayer of confession for the anniversary of 9 11 from Mennonite Church USA.
We confess, God of mercy and grace, our complicity in the injustice and violence in the world through the benefits we embrace as citizens of the United States.
Forgive us, as a people, our hunger for oil, our lust for power and wealth, our control of the global marketplace. Not just our leaders have lied and led us into war. We have lied to ourselves saying, “Our affluent lifestyles cost no one but us,” “They are the terrorists and we are the innocent,” and “God is on our side.”
Free us from falsehood and deception, so we may know and tell the truth.
Give to us the Spirit of turning, turning from our arrogance and ignorance, turning from our exclusiveness and parochialism, turning from our unilateralism and pre-emption.
Empower us, O God, to turn toward a genuine national humility, to turn toward a respect for other religions and cultures, to turn toward cooperation and national alliances for the common good of humanity, to turn toward the way of peace.
And in our turning may new vistas of hope appear on the horizon of this world’s terrain of terror and fear. For the sake of Christ, Instigator of just peace, we pray. Amen.
Forgive us, as a people, our hunger for oil, our lust for power and wealth, our control of the global marketplace. Not just our leaders have lied and led us into war. We have lied to ourselves saying, “Our affluent lifestyles cost no one but us,” “They are the terrorists and we are the innocent,” and “God is on our side.”
Free us from falsehood and deception, so we may know and tell the truth.
Give to us the Spirit of turning, turning from our arrogance and ignorance, turning from our exclusiveness and parochialism, turning from our unilateralism and pre-emption.
Empower us, O God, to turn toward a genuine national humility, to turn toward a respect for other religions and cultures, to turn toward cooperation and national alliances for the common good of humanity, to turn toward the way of peace.
And in our turning may new vistas of hope appear on the horizon of this world’s terrain of terror and fear. For the sake of Christ, Instigator of just peace, we pray. Amen.
—from Service of Remembrance and Lamentation, on the Peace and Justice Support Network of Mennonite Chuch USA.
For more worship resources for the tenth anniversary of 9 11, click on September 11 Worship in the list of “Labels” at the lower right side of the page.
