Went to an ash Wednesday service last night. The focus was on Repentance.
We prayed this prayer collectively and I found it meaningful and helpful. Maybe it could be helpful today.
Cheers to those celebrating the season of Lent
Celebrant: Merciful Father: We confess to you and
to one another, that we have sinned by our own fault in
thought, word, and deed; by what we have done, and by
what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our
whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our
neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we
have been forgiven.
People: Have mercy on us, Lord.
Celebrant: We confess to you, Lord, all our past
unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our
lives.
People: We confess to you, Lord.
Celebrant: Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and
our exploitation of other people,
People: We confess to you, Lord.
Celebrant: Our anger and frustration, and our envy of
those more fortunate than ourselves,?
People: We confess to you, Lord.
Celebrant: Our unrestrained love of worldly goods and
comforts, and our dishonesty in daily life and work,
People: We confess to you, Lord.
Celebrant: Our negligence in prayer and worship, and
our failure to share the faith that is in us,
People: We confess to you, Lord.
Celebrant: Accept our repentance, Lord, for the
wrongs we have done: for our blindness to human need and
suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty.
People: Accept our repentance, Lord.
Celebrant: For all judgmental and uncharitable
thoughts toward our neighbors, and for our prejudice and
contempt toward those who differ from us,?
People: Accept our repentance, Lord.
Celebrant: For our waste and pollution of your
creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after
us,
People: Accept our repentance, Lord.
Celebrant: Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger
depart from us;
People: Hear us, for your mercy is great.
Celebrant: Accomplish in us the work of your
salvation,
People: That we may show forth your glory in
the world.
Celebrant: By the cross and death of your Son our
Lord,
People: Bring us with all your saints to the joy
of his resurrection.