united confessions
The wonder of being in charge of a Salvation Army corps is that your role is extremely varied. One of these variations happened yesterday as I was writing an e-mail to the Baptist minister here in Godalming. He is in charge of putting together the United Service that is held annually on the last Sunday of the year. This year I have been asked to lead the confessional prayer before communion, which personally I feel very honoured to be doing. I actually wrote about corporate confession early on in my blogging experience and highlighted how it can be very useful thing.
Having said that I’m aware of how easy it is for anything that is done week in, week out to become something that becomes simply a habit rather than being done out of any real conviction. With this in mind I started to hunt down form of liturgical confession that was different to the norm and after a fair bit of searching I found one over at Jonny Baker’s blog amongst his 3rd set of worship tricks. Called the Grace confession it actually makes uncomfortable reading and speaks to both the corporate entity of the church as well as at an individual level. So after a very small amount of adaptation I’ve sent it off to be included in the Order of Service.
Whilst I am not one of the voices that is calling out for the sacraments to be brought into the Army’s repertoire of worship experience, I do think that there are some elements of liturgical worship that could be adapted into the Salvation Army experience. Some sort of occasional experience of corporate repentance could be a valuable experience in any corps that struggles to see any use of the mercy seat at all, which of course has been a traditional place of individual repentance.
By the way the actual text of the Confessional Prayer is this:
When our thoughtless criticism stifles the creativity of others,
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy
When we keep a tight hold on power and deny others the chance to participate.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.When we prefer the safety of our holy huddle to the wideness of God’s world.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.When we decline to take risks for fear that we might fail.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.When we praise the gifts of others,
share the power that we are given,
engage with communities beyond the boundaries of our comfort,
and risk everything we have for the sake of others, then,
God rejoices in us.
God rejoice in us.Almighty God,
who forgives all who truly repent,
Have mercy upon us,
pardon and deliver us from all our sins,
confirm and strengthen us in all goodness,
keep us in life eternal,
and may your Holy Spirit encourage us to a new way of living,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.