CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS
1. Almighty and merciful God, the fountain of all goodness, who knowest the thoughts of our hearts, we confess unto thee that we have sinned against thee, and done evil in thy sight. Wash us, we beseech thee, from the stains of our past sins, and give us grace and power to put away all hurtful things; so that, being delivered from the bondage of sin, we may bring forth worthy fruits of repentance, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Alcuin
2. O Lord, who hast mercy upon all, take away from me my sins, and mercifully kindle in me the fire of thy Holy Spirit Take away from me the heart of stone, and give me a heart of flesh, a heart to love and adore thee, a heart to delight in thee, to follow and to enjoy thee, for Christ’s sake.
Ambrose of Milan
3. Forgive me my sins, O Lord;
for the sins of my youth and the sins of my age,
the sins of my soul and the sins of my body,
my secret and my whispering sins,
my presumptuous and my crying sins,
the sins that I have done to please myself,
and the sins I have done to please others.
Forgive me the sins, which I know,
and those sins, which I know not;
Forgive them, O Lord,
Forgive them all of thy great goodness.
Lancelot Andrewes
4. Forgive us, O Lord, for everything that has spoiled home life: for the moodiness and irritability which made us difficult to live with; for the insensitiveness which made us careless of the feelings of others; for selfishness which made life harder for others.
Forgive us, O Lord, for everything that has spoiled our witness for thee; that so often men would never have known that we had been with Jesus and pledged ourselves to Him; that we have so often denied with our lives that which we said with our lips; for the difference between our creed and our conduct, our profession and our practice; and for any example which made it easier for men to criticize thy Church or for another to sin.
When we think of ourselves and of the meanness and ugliness and weakness of our lives, we thank thee for Jesus Christ our Saviour. Grant unto us a true penitence for our sins. Grant that at the foot of the Cross, we may find our burdens rolled away. And so strengthen us by thy Spirit that in the days to come, we may live more nearly as we ought, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
William Barclay
5. Lord, please forgive our sins, and set us free from them.
We confess to the sin of pride:
we have been sure of our own goodness and importance and have
looked down on others.
Help us to appreciate the true worth of other people.
We confess to the sin of envy:
we have been displeased when others have been more successful or
sought after than we have been.
Help us to be glad when others prosper.
We confess to our sin of anger:
we have lost our temper and nursed grievances
Help us to be patient and understanding with everyone.
We confess to our sin of self-indulgence:
We have had enough and to spare, yet we have neglected the needs
of others.
Help us to deny ourselves so that others may not be in want.
We confess to our sin of unchastity:
in one way or another we have used sex wrongly.
Help us to create and uphold right relations between men and women,
inside marriage and outside it.
We confess to our sin of anxiety:
We have worried about many things.
Help us to trust you to see us through.
We confess to our sin of laziness:
We have been lukewarm Christians.
Make us eager to do your will.
Caryl Micklem
6. Forgive them all, O Lord: our sins of omission and our sins of commission, the sins of our youth and the sins of our riper years; the sins of our souls and the sins of our bodies; our secret and our more open sins; our sins of ignorance and surprise, and our more deliberate and presumptuous sins; the sins we have done to please others, the sins we know and remember, and the sins we have forgotten; the sins we have striven to hide from others and the sins by which we have made others offend; forgive them, O Lord, forgive them all for His sake, who died for our sins and rose for our justification, and now stands at thy right hand to make intercession for us. Jesus Christ our Lord.
John Wesley
7. Lord Jesus, my Saviour, my heart is cold, warm it with your selfless love; my heart is sinful, cleanse it by your precious blood; my heart is weak, strengthen it by your joyful Spirit; my heart is empty, fill it with your divine presence, Lord Jesus, my heart is yours, possess it always and only for yourself.
Maurice Wood
