Here’s a prayer of
confession, followed by Words of Assurance for the 4th Sunday of
Lent, Year B. It comes from the United Church of Christ website.
Prayer of Confession
(inspired
by Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:14-21)
O
God of Comfort and God of Challenge,
we come to you this
morning the way the Israelites did,
full of complaints
and dissatisfaction.
Nothing is enough;
we do not recognize
your blessing at work in our day to day lives.
Forgive
us when we become so comfortable
that we
moan and groan about
the
most insignificant details of our lives.
In our complaints,
challenge us as you did the Israelites,
to consider the
bigger picture
of oppression,
injustice, and inequality around us.
Forgive
us when we close our eyes for fear of what you might show us;
keep
sending loving and compassionate leaders
to open
our eyes until we see what you see in our world.
Words
of Assurance
You are blessed
because God’s image resides deep within each of you.
So return God’s
blessing by the way you love others.
~ written by Rev. Dr. Ginny Brown Daniel, in So Loved: Service Prayers for the Fourth
Sunday of Lent. Posted on the
Worship Ways page of the United Church of Christ website. http://www.ucc.org/worship_worship-ways
