Confession Thursday 3.10.22
1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. - Malachi 3:1-5
Lord, forgive us our deep wretchedness.
Jesus has visited his temple to bring mercy,
may that mercy purify us that we may stand when he returns in judgment.
Apart from your grace we will not be able to endure that day.
We confess that we are spiritual adulterers, sorcerers who warp the true religion to mirror the idols of our heart.
We tolerate the adultery of our own hearts while condemning others.
We are religious hypcocrites who swear falsely, professing right doctrine while denying it with our ethics.
For the cost of cheap goods, we sell the worker oppressed with hardship and enslaved to systems of poverty.
We claim to be pro-life while neglecting the elderly and as well as the orphan and abandoned.
We claim to be your exilic people, while despising and abusing the sojourning migrant in our midst.
In all this and more we show that we do not fear you.
Have mercy on us, O God.
By your steadfast love let us be refined and purified by your fire,
instead of consumed by it and destroyed.
Work the truth, compassion, and justice of Christ into us that we may be gold and silver instead of dross.
Purify us by your loving flame, that we may be an offering of righteousness to you.
Confession Thursday is a weekly feature of Semper Ref. In keeping with the name of our website, we believe there is no true reformation in individual lives or the life and ministry of the Church apart from true repentance as God calls us to conformity with his word. The promise of the Gospel is not that we can repent deeply enough for God to love us, but that since God loves us he invites us into deep repentance. It is not the strength of our prayer that gives us hope, but the fact that Christ is the propitiation of our sin. Because of this, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Unless otherwise noted, all the prayers of confession found here are written by the SemperRef editorial team. Confession Thursday prayers may be reproduced with permission if you cite SemperRef.org as the source.
