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Confession: Bonds and Judgments

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Holy and beloved God, though you ask us to love each other, and be bound as your family by that love, we instead like to work to separate those bonds. Whether leaping to conclusions and snap judgments, or out of fear of those who seem different on the surface, we are not comfortable in welcoming the stranger and seeking justice for the oppressed. Change our perception, helping us to know your presence in everyone we encounter. Change our minds, that instead of imposing our way on the world, we first seek your goodness. And change our hearts, filling them to overflowing with your love.

 
Submitted by Rev. Lucus Levy Keppel, Trinity Presbyterian Church, in Bixby, Okla.

CTW: Seek Shalom Together

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God calls us to gather together to seek the Shalom of our city
We seek God’s Shalom together
Where there is separation, may God forge new connections through us
We seek God’s wholeness together
Where there is violence, may God bring reconciliation through us
We seek God’s peace together
May the wholeness and peace of God be felt in this community
We seek God’s Shalom together. Let us worship God!

 

Submitted by Rev. Lucus Levy Keppel, Trinity Presbyterian Church in Bixby, OK

Confession – Turning Our Backs

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Holy and Beloved God, Sovereign of the Universe, we pray for forgiveness. It is so easy to lose your way—even with the light of the sun and the moon to guide us, we often prefer to turn our backs and head out on our own path. Then, when we have adjusted to the darkness, turning back to your light seems to hurt our eyes, and we squeeze them shut to block out our pain and the pain around us. Help us to open our eyes again. To trust that the pain of seeing the world as you see it is reduced when we do your work. Hear the pains and burdens we bear—and take them from our hearts, that we may instead be filled with your heavenly joy and love.

 

Submitted by Rev. Lucus Levy Keppel, Trinity Presbyterian Church in Bixby, OK

 

(for a service remembering Buzz Aldrin taking communion on the moon)

Confession/Pardon – Debts

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Holy and Beloved God, we pray to you often, asking you to “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” – and then, in the next breath, we turn away from you and shake down our friends and families. Bring justice through the world, holy God, even though we may turn aside. Help us learn from our wounds – and the wounds we have inflicted on others – to turn away from violence both physical and fiscal. Make clear to us your vision, so that we can work together for the benefit of all. Amen.

Friends, hear the good news! God has already forgiven our debts, and repaid our sin.
God’s Spirit fills us with love and peace, and leads us to heal instead of hurt.
Therefore, let us forgive one another as God has forgiven us!
Amen!

 

Submitted by Rev. Lucus Levy Keppel, Trinity Presbyterian Church in Bixby, OK

Confession: Choose Life

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On our journey with God, we often make mistakes, and hurt each other. By acknowledging these mistakes, and asking for forgiveness, we work to heal that pain, and reconcile with each other and with God. Let us join together in prayer:

Holy and Beloved God, you have blessed us with life itself – and yet, we choose to walk away from you again and again. We get engrossed in the small details and the broad strokes, and lose track of you as the artist. We say we want to be your disciple, but we chase after dreams that you tell us to ignore, and ignore your call to act in love in the world. Help us to turn our hearts back to you. Help us give our whole attention and whole self to you, as Jesus told us to do. Help us to choose life in you over all else. Hear the words of our hearts as we lift up silent prayers.

No matter how often we forget God’s presence, or choose to follow our own paths and dreams, God calls out to us to return to the path, that God has already forgiven us, and that Jesus is waiting for us with open arms.

May we love God and each other as much as God loves us! Amen.

 

Submitted by Rev. Lucus Levy Keppel, Trinity Presbyterian Church, Bixby, OK

(Based on Deut. 30, and Luke 14, for Proper 19 (Sept 4, 2016))