Here’s a prayer of confession and words of assurance based on John 15:1-8, the suggested gospel reading for the fifth Sunday of Easter. It was written by Bruce Prewer.
Admitting our Failures and Trusting Forgiveness
(based on John 15:1-8)
Jesus said: “I am the vine, you are the branches.” Let us pray.
We thank you, gracious God, for Jesus Christ the true vine, with his roots eternally grounded in you. We rejoice that by grace we have been grafted into him, to be branches on a vine which bears the loveliest of all the fruits of earth. Yet we confess that all is not well with the way we live.
Please forgive us for the occasions when
we have been the ones to introduce disease into the vine,
preferring its contamination to the vigour of health.
Forgive us for neglecting to draw deeply on the sap of Life,
for our tendency to wander instead of growing on the framework your provide,
for being content, and sometimes even proud of, a few sparse or undersized fruits,
for the apathy which lets us to go through some seasons without bearing any fruit.
Have mercy on us. Please do not lose patience or sever us completely from the true vine. Rather heal our diseases, discipline and train our wandering tendrils, prune our unfruitful branches and cut away our diseased ones. May we remain in Christ and he in us, through all the changing seasons of life. Let us delight in bearing the fruits of love which are our true purpose and joy. For your Name’s sake. Amen!
Forgiveness
Jesus said: “If you reside in me, and my words reside in you, ask whatever you will and it shall be done for you.” Friends, we have asked for forgiveness and correction. It has been truly done for us. It is being done for us. And it will be done for us.
Thanks be to God!
— written by Bruce Prewer, and posted on Bruce Prewer’s Homepage.
For more prayers of confession/words of assurance, see the Confession/Assurance Index at the upper right side of the page.
