Let's pray.
Father God,  we praise you, our Lord and
our God.
You are the Lord of Heaven and Earth; the
Lord of life itself.
There is no god beside you; there is no
other god like you.
You alone are the creator and sustainer
of all it is.
You are the source and centre of all
life. You alone are the source and centre
of all that is good, true, worthy and wholesome. You alone are
the source and centre of
true hope, peace, joy and fulfillment.
We praise you, our loving, living God
that you are not remote from us
but that in Christ you dwelt among us;
walked in the dust
of this world; you came as a servant king
to bring
healing, hope, and a new beginning
to all who would lean on you.
Lord, we worship you and we give you
praise for the way you have surrounded
our lives with your love and touched
our hearts with your grace. We praise you
that you did not leave us to struggle on
our own
or to try to find you by our searching;
instead you came seeking us out.
And we praise you for the way you speak
to us
through your word and for the gracious
way you listen to and answer our prayers
and our cries for help and hope.
We praise you and call you sovereign, saviour,
king, shepherd, master, friend, lord;
and in Jesus you have shown us that you
can fulfill all of these roles and so
much more.
That you can fill us with your presence
and your power.
And yet, Lord, you know how easily we fall. We make the same
mistakes over and over and we're
constantly returning to you for
forgiveness. We confess that all too often we take
advantage of your grace. We assume that because we think our sin
is so minor it doesn't really matter to
you.
Remind us again how our sin is building
barriers between us and you;
between us and each other.
We ask for your forgiveness and ask for
the courage and strength to make a new
start.
And whilst we offer our confession
pour your Spirit into our lives so that
we may live in a way that's worthy of
the repentance that we offer.
So we ask lord that we might use this
time well;
that your Spirit might pervade all we do.
That we might meet with you and be
blessed in doing so.
For we offer this time to you
in Jesus' name.
Amen.
God is compassionate and does not deal
with us according to our sins;
but casts them as far away from us as the east is from the west.
Freed from the mistakes of the past,
we can begin again
Thanks be to God.
