Litany of Confession

This is the Litany of Confession that we used in our Service of Reconciliation with Immanuel, Alexandria today.

Litany of Confession

P: O Lord,
C: have mercy. 

P: O Christ,
C: have mercy. 

P: O Lord,
C: have mercy. 

P: O Christ,
C: hear us. 

P: God the Father, who desires not the death of a sinner, but that all turn to Him and live,
C: have mercy. 

P: God the Son, who gave Himself for our sins and was raised for our justification,
C: have mercy. 

P: God the Holy Spirit, by whom we are a new creation in Christ Jesus and have the ministry of reconciliation,
C: have mercy. 

P: Be gracious to us.
C: Spare us, good Lord. 

P: Be gracious to us.
C: Help us, good Lord. 

P: We poor sinners implore You
C: to hear us, O Lord. 

P: When I have lived as if God did not matter and as if I mattered most,

C: Lord, have mercy.

P: When I have not honored our Lord’s name,

C: Lord, have mercy.

P: When my worship and prayers have faltered,

C: Lord, have mercy.

P: When I have not let His love have its way with me and so my love for others has failed,

C: Lord, have mercy.

P: For those I have hurt and for those I have failed to help,

C: Lord, have mercy.

P: For thoughts and desires soiled with sin,

C: Lord, have mercy.

P: When I am quick to accuse and slow to forgive,

C: Lord, have mercy.

P: When I do not want to be my brother’s keeper,

C: Lord, have mercy.

P: When I do what is easy and not what is right,

C: Lord, have mercy.

P: For words that have hurt and division I have caused,

C: Lord, have mercy.

P: For my failure to trust in You for all good,

C: Lord, have mercy.

P: For the sin I confess before you now in the silence of my heart . . .

P: Create in me a clean heart, O God,

C: Lord, have mercy.

P: That I may live with my brothers and sisters in Christ in unity and peace,

C: Lord, have mercy.

P: That I may be humble and lowly in spirit,

C: Lord, have mercy.

P: That I rejoice to forgive and do good,

C: Help me, O Lord.

P: That the bones You have crushed rejoice,

C: Grant it, O Lord.

P: Blot out all my iniquities,

C: And restore to me the joy of your salvation.

P: O almighty God, merciful Father,

C: I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto You all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended You and justly deserved Your temporal and eternal punishment. But I am heartily sorry for them and sincerely repent of them, and I pray You of Your boundless mercy and for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me, a poor, sinful being.

P: Upon this your confession, I, by virtue of my office, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God unto all of you, and in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen.