Confession Thursday 6.2.22

     13 “I saw in the night visions,

            and behold, with the clouds of heaven

        there came one like a son of man,

            and he came to the Ancient of Days

                        and was presented before him.

            14 And to him was given dominion

                        and glory and a kingdom,

            that all peoples, nations, and languages

                        should serve him;

            his dominion is an everlasting dominion,

                        which shall not pass away,

            and his kingdom one

                        that shall not be destroyed. – Daniel 7:13-14

     18 “For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, 19 and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations. 20 And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD. 21 And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the LORD.

            22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth

                        that I make

            shall remain before me, says the LORD,

                        so shall your offspring and your name remain.

            23 From new moon to new moon,

                        and from Sabbath to Sabbath,

            all flesh shall come to worship before me,

                        declares the LORD. – Isaiah 66:18-23

Father,

Forgive us for thinking little of your salvation. 

We compress you into our little cultures and contexts

and forget that you are Lord over all the whole earth

and that you are drawing people from every nation

into your kingdom.

Forgive us for doubting your desire to save

and ignoring your work throughout the world.

Forgive us as well for our sinful attitudes and prejudices

by which we unwittingly work against your plans

to make the Church a place of multicultural glory.

Forgive us for separating from those who are different from us

rather than seeing that we are one in Christ

and embracing each other as brothers and sisters.

By the power of your Spirit make your Church one.

Unite our hearts and lives in Christ

that the world might know your grace.

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.