Loving God,
we take this time today to come
before you,
but as we do, we are aware that
all is not right within us.
We neglect your word,
we fail to meditate on your
law,
we forget to speak with you,
we make plans without turning
to you,
we do things that we know are
wrong.
We did not put you first in our
lives.
Forgive how we have failed to
love you
with all our heart, our soul,
our mind, and our strength.
Loving God,
our relationships with each other
are not all that they can be or should be.
There is hurt and injury
between ourselves and others.
There are walls of anger and
hatred between us and our neighbors.
Forgive us for how we deny our
part in this
and for how we blame others for
the brokenness around us.
Forgive how we have not loved
our neighbors as ourselves.
Gracious God,
we believe that you offer to us
and our world a whole and good life.
For all that we have done to
deny this life to each other and to ourselves,
we ask your forgiveness and
your mercy.
Words of Assurance
(based
on Psalm 103: 11-14)
Brothers and sisters in Christ,
as you choose again this day to
love God and to love one another
know that God has forgiven you
that which is past
and offers to you a new and full
life.
Praise be to the name of God,
now forever. Amen.
Hear the good news concerning
the love and forgiveness of God:
“As far as the east is from the west,
so far does God remove our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.”
~ from the website of the Tuckahoe
Presbyterian Church , Richmond, VA http://www.tuckahoepres.org/
