Confession of Sin: “Dancing to Mourning”

Call to Confession: Lamentations 5:15-16 

¹⁵ The joy of our hearts has ceased;
    our dancing has been turned to mourning.
¹⁶ The crown has fallen from our head;
    woe to us, for we have sinned!

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Prayer of Confession 

O God, truly the joy of our hearts comes to its fullest when we gaze on your glory. O that we had a thousand tongues to sing of our great Redeemer’s praise. But O that we might be silent before you when you remind us from your word of how our sin has offended you. 

Truly our sin has caused the joy of our hearts to cease, and it has turned our dancing into mourning. 

Father, we confess the truthfulness of your word when it calls us sinners. There is only one God, and his very nature demands complete and perfect obedience. And being fallen sons and daughters of Adam, we are without excuse for our sin and have been found guilty before your law. 

We also admit the truthfulness of your word that we often wander from your commandments like lost sheep. We are slow to admit our sin, and we make countless excuses for it even after being confronted by it. 

We confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart and mind and strength, nor have we loved our neighbors as ourselves. We confess that we have instead sinned against you in thought, word, and action by what we’ve done, and by what we’ve left undone. 

We know that if we say “amen” to this prayer and yet we still intend to go on sinning, this prayer will have no effect on our lives.

Heavenly Father, in your mercy forgive what we have been and done. We humbly repent and cry for the pardon given to us in Christ Jesus. Create in us clean hearts, O God, and renew a right spirit within us. Do not cast us from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from us. Restore to us the joy of your salvation and sustain us by your grace. 

All this we ask in Jesus’s name. Amen!

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Assurance of Pardon: Psalm 103:8-12

⁸ The Lord is merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
⁹ He will not always chide,
    nor will he keep his anger forever.
¹⁰ He does not deal with us according to our sins,
    nor repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west,
    so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

*If you have repented of your sins, and you are united to Christ by faith, then hear these words: “In Christ Jesus, your sins have been pardoned.”