God, at times, has been pictured as a mighty emperor and the worshipper as the most humble subject The traditional
prayers of confession in many churches, often dating from the time of the Reformation, seem today to be too groveling.
Not only is this book informative, it's also practical, providing well -
written prayers of confession and lament (appropriate for both personal and corporate use) as well as ideas for repairing relationships and pursuing justice.
An
opening prayer of confession sometimes does little more than suggest that worship is primarily about our failures rather than God's triumphs.
Prayers of confession openly acknowledge human imperfection; they thereby imply some confidence that we can meet evil in the open without its engulfing those who pray.
The prayer of confession leads on to petition for cleansing and renewal, and a sense of God's forgiving mercy brings newness of life and deeper commitment to his service.
So if you are having trouble praying, the first prayer that can be offered is
a prayer of confession and repentance.
The faith that shapes the Eucharist and
its prayers of confession and intercession assumes that the negative is real but not ultimate.
What have these strategies of neglect got to do with
the prayers of confession?
It reminds me of a man who said to me about his refusal to join in
a prayer of confession in our church one Sunday, «Hell, I'm not that bad!»
So far we have illustrated our discussion only with
the prayer of confession, which was shown to be especially related to the experiences of imperfection and of dependence.
For instance, in
the prayer of confession the confessor is directly confronted with the objective and unalterable fact of actual existence and the heights of possibility which it contains.
To return to
prayer of confession, the act of recognizing guilt in the light of limitless possibilities is a person - creating act.
Let us consider, for example,
the prayer of confession.
(The relevance for
the prayer of confession of the awareness of dependence upon the given structures of existence, as well as of the awareness of imperfection, is evident from these comments).
The problem is solved if an entirely different approach is used — namely, to show that one aspect of the definition of «God» and the understanding of
the prayer of confession are simultaneously given in the analysis of the experience of imperfection.
If «God» is the name applied to that dimension of existence in which its boundless perfectibility is seen,
the prayer of confession is man's response to this recognition, in the face of his own actual performance.
Therefore the experience of imperfection contains within itself both an aspect of the definition of God and the basis for interpreting
the prayer of confession.
Recently at a worship workshop I noted that the church traditionally forbade kneeling and
prayers of confession during celebrative periods like Easter.
While we use
a prayer of confession in our service every Sunday, I've not given much honest thought as to what that prayer might look like for a pastor.
He does quote from the bible and he invites everyone who watches to pray
the prayer of confession and accept Christ as their savior.