Here is a prayer of confession inspired by Joshua 5:
9-12. It comes from the United Church of Christ’s Worship Ways Archive.
Prayer of Confession
(inspired by Joshua
5: 9-12)
We confess that at
times, O God,
we have kept silence
even as we have seen the bodies,
the spirits, and minds
of your children waste away.
We have received manna
from heaven,
and yet have hoarded and
kept it for ourselves,
while others die of
hunger physically, and spiritually.
Lord, have mercy.
We confess, O God, we
have looked with self-righteous judgment
upon those who have
strayed away from you
and those who have not
come to you.
We have convinced
ourselves of our own righteousness,
and have forsaken the
call of Christ to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Christ, have mercy.
We confess, O Holy One,
we have longed for you
to regard our prayers,
heal our diseases and our land,
and love us more than
others.
We know that you have
called us to care for the widows and orphans,
to love the strangers
and our neighbors,
yet at times we try to
hoard your love, O God,
as the Israelites tried
to hoard manna in the wilderness.
Lord, have mercy.
O God,
we know that you have
given us the ministry of reconciliation
and have called us to be
ambassadors for Christ.
Yet, we have often
examined the sin in others
and not embraced them in
your love.
Instruct us and teach us
the way to go in your love.
Show us how to regard
others
not from the limits of a
human point of view
but to see them through
the eyes of love divine. Amen.
