Tuesday, October 16, 2018

An Edifying Confession of Sin

As human beings, we all have our strengths and weaknesses.

We may say the same of each church and denominational group of churches: they all have their strengths and weaknesses.

One abiding strength of churches in the Anglican tradition has been, since 1549, their Book of Common Prayer.

One strength of the Book of Common Prayer in use by the Episcopal Church since 1979 is its “Confession of Sin” (p. 360). As Christians, any of us may easily find edifying a daily repetition of this prayer, whether alone or with other members of our family or congregation.

I reproduce it here using the boldface type of the original:

Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your Name. Amen.