Advent Confessions of Sin

These are the Confessions of Sin we’ve used during Advent for the last few years at IPC Ealing. I think I got them from David Gibson in Aberdeen.

1st Sunday of Advent
Gracious Lord,
we confess our willingness to be loved
but also our reluctance to love.
We confess our readiness to accept your forgiving love
but also our own refusal to forgive.
We confess our eagerness to grasp your offer of redeeming love
but also our resistance to following you without question.
In this Advent time, forgive us our failure
to respond as we should.
Come to us anew by your Spirit, and by your grace help us to receive you
with humble trust, as Mary;
with joy, as John;
with submission to you, as Elizabeth;
with awe, as the shepherds;
with gratitude, as Simeon;
with love, as you have loved us.
Even so, come Lord Jesus.
Amen.
 
 
2nd Advent
O promised Saviour:
We are a world at war.
Our peace depends on your coming.
We are a sinful people.
Our pardon depends on your coming.
We are full of good intentions but weak at keeping promises;
our only hope of doing God’s will
is that you should come and help us do it.
Lord Jesus Christ, you are the Word made flesh;
We your people ask for your pardon,
we wait for your peace to break from shore to shore,
and we thank you again for your grace beyond measure.
Even so: come, Lord Jesus.
Amen.
 
 
3rd Advent;
Almighty God,
you who shaped out of nothing all that is,
forgive us for returning empty handed.
You who called forth light,
forgive our preference for the dark.
You who sent John to be a voice crying,
forgive our unwillingness to say anything at all.
You who sent your Son to redeem your people,
forgive our comfort with the captivity we find ourselves in.
We love you for your tender mercy and
ask you to send your Spirit, once more, into our midst
and into our hearts, to make us new.
In Jesus’ precious name we ask,
Amen.
 
 
 
4th Advent
Almighty God,
You have called us to love you with heart, soul, mind, strength, and our neighbour as ourselves, but we are not sufficient for these things.
We confess that our affections continually turn away from you:
from purity to lust,
from freedom to slavery,
from compassion to indifference,
from fullness to emptiness.
Have mercy on us.
Order our lives by your holy Word,
Re-order our affections by your Holy Spirit,
and make your commandments the joy of our hearts.
Conform us to the image of your Son, Jesus Christ,
and keep us, while we wait for him to come in glory.
Amen.