Throughout Lent, North is focusing on the cross. Here are the prayers of confession we are using each Sunday:
First Sunday: The Cross as Victory
L: Jesus invites us to join him at the table of grace.
Let us leave our sins behind and join His feast:
P: Strong and Clever God, we confess
that we have relied on ourselves and rejected the strength of the cross;
we have trusted our knowledge and ignored your wisdom.
Break the power of sin and give us the victory
of your strange and amazing love,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
[Silence]
L: Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
P: But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Second Sunday: The Cross as Solidarity
L: In humble honesty, let us confess our sin to God:
P: Faithful God, we confess that
we have celebrated the successful and praised the powerful,
while we ignored the cry of the needy and rejected the outcast.
Forgive us for our sin and free us from our comfortable illusions.
Teach us how to embrace ourselves and others
in all our brokenness and strife,
through Jesus Christ, the Human One. Amen.
[Silence]
L: Hear the Good News:
Christ was wounded for our transgressions
and by his stripes we are healed.
P: Thanks be to God. Amen.
Third Sunday: The Cross as Reconciliation
United Methodist Hymnal #893
Fourth Sunday: The Cross as Participation
L: Should we continue sinning so grace will multiply?
Absolutely not because we have been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ,
who offers us the graceful way.
Therefore, let us leave our sins at the foot of the cross:
P: Come, Spirit of the Crucified One, and dwell in our hearts.
We surrender our lives to you.
Free us from the sins that others have committed against us.
Destroy our sins that enslaves us.
Lift us up into your abundant and everlasting life. Amen.
[Silence]
L: Hear the good news:
If we have died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him.
From this moment on,
consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
P: Thanks be to God. Amen.
Fifth Sunday: The Cross as Obedience
L: Christ invites to his table all who love him,
who earnestly repent of their sin
and seek to live in peace with one another.
Therefore, let us confess our sin before God and one another:
P: Almighty God,
in Jesus Christ you called us to be a servant people,
but we do not do what you command.
We are often silent when we should speak,
and useless when we could be useful.
We have refused to bear the troubles of others.
We have ignored the pain of the world.
Have mercy on us, O God.
Forgive us and free us
for joyful obedience in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
[Silence]
L: Hear the good news:
Christ died for us while we were yet sinners;
that proves God’s love toward us.
In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!
P: In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!
All: Glory to God. Amen.
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