Prayers of Confession

(From Psalm 80)

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead your people like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth. Stir up your might, and come to save us! Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!

Do not be angry, Lord, but hear our prayer. For we have sinned against you and done what is evil in your sight. We have turned aside from your glory, and have walked in darkness, preferring the lies of the world, the flesh and the devil, to the light of your glorious truth. Restore us, O Lord God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved!

Forgive us for our sins, through the blood of the righteous one, Jesus Christ, and grant to us your Holy Spirit, that we might more and more die unto sin, and live unto righteousness, through him who loved us and gave himself for us, even our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray, “Our Father...”

(From the Book of Common Prayer)

Almighty and most merciful Father; We have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against your holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us.

O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare those, O God, who confess their faults. Restore those who are penitent, According to your promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord. Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father; For your Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, Forgive all that is past; And grant that we may ever hereafter Serve and please you in newness of life, To the honor and glory of your Name; Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who taught us to pray, Our Father...

Inspired by Augustine

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we remember your greatness and the glory that you have revealed in your works of creation and providence. For you have made us for yourself, so that we are not our own, and should live only to obey, trust, and love you. But we have not obeyed you: instead we have exalted and pleased ourselves. And we have not trusted you: though your promises are great and precious and never fail, yet we have only sometimes relied on them, and in anxiety and fear we have not put our full hope in you. And we have not loved you as we ought; though you have loved us first, yet we have not made you our heart’s desire and delight, and instead have clung to idols that do not live. We have sinned secretly and openly, in thought, in word, and in deed.

Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father, for our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake. Remember the blood of the covenant, shed by our Savior, and set your people free from the bonds of sin and death. Protect us from the snares of the evil one, and grant to us your Holy Spirit, that we may walk before you in humility and holiness, for we ask this in the name of him who taught us to pray, Our Father...

From Psalm 51

O most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; who pardons all those who truly repent and turn to you; we humbly confess our sins and ask for your mercy. We have not loved you with our whole heart; neither have we loved our neighbor as ourselves. We have not done justly, nor loved mercy, nor walked humbly with you, our God.

Have mercy upon us, O Lord, according to your steadfast love; according to your tender mercies, blot out our iniquity. Create in us a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within us. Cast us not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from us. Restore unto us the joy of your salvation, for we ask these things in the name of Jesus, our Savior, who taught us to pray, Our Father...

From Psalm 106

Almighty God, we confess that both we and our fathers have sinned against you. We have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness. Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the Sea, at the Red Sea. Yet you saved them for your name’s sake, that you might make known your mighty power. You led them through the deep as through a desert, and saved them from the hand of the foe. But our fathers soon forgot your works, and put you to the test in the wilderness. And we, like them, have forgotten you, our Savior, and the wondrous works that you have wrought in Jesus Christ. We have murmured against you and have not obeyed your voice.

Have mercy upon us, O God, and remember your promises, made unto mankind through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Remember your covenant and save us, O Lord our God. Forgive us for all our sins through your steadfast love, revealed in the death and resurrection of our Savior, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise; for we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray: Our Father...

From Isaiah 59

Almighty God, your hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, but our sins have separated us from you. Our hands are defiled with blood and our fingers with iniquity; our lips have spoken lies. We confess that justice is far from us, and in ourselves there is no righteousness. We hope for light, but find darkness; we hope for justice, but there is none. For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us, and we know our iniquities: transgressing and denying the Lord, and turning back from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words. Truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. Apart from our Lord Jesus Christ, we have no hope for salvation. Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father, and forgive us our sins, in name of Jesus, our Savior, who taught us to pray, Our Father...

Prayers of Thanksgiving

(From Martin Bucer)

Almighty, gracious, heavenly Father, we give you eternal praise and thanks that through your holy Gospel and Sacrament, you have again offered and presented to us your most precious treasure: the true bread of heaven and the food of eternal life, our Lord Jesus Christ. Grant, O Lord, that we may receive Him and partake of Him in true faith both now and forever, and so be nourished by his flesh and blood that we may be set free from all evil and increase daily in all goodness, to your glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(From John Calvin)

Heavenly Father, we offer you eternal praise and thanks that you have granted so great a benefit to us poor sinners, having drawn us into the Communion of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, whom you have delivered to death for us, and whom you have given us as the meat and drink of eternal life. Now grant us this other benefit: that you will never allow us to forget these things; but having them imprinted on our hearts, may we grow and increase daily in the faith which is at work in every good deed. Thus may we order and pursue all our life to the exaltation of your glory and the edification of our neighbor, through the same Jesus Christ, your Son, who in the unity of the Holy Spirit lives and reigns with you, O God, forever. Amen.

We give thanks to you, Almighty God, that you have given to us the true bread which comes down from heaven, even your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Grant now that we who have received this sacrament by faith may abide in him and he in us, so that we may live in faith toward you, and in fervent love toward one another; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.