How do I write a prayer of confession?

The confession part of the service is like a picture of our relationship with God. Participating in this alternating pattern of God's words and our response shapes our faith over time to highlight the tenacity and graciousness of God's covenantal love.

A prayer of confession can acknowledge:

• We are sinful people, in need of a Savior
• Sin is invasive, touching and affecting people, societies, institutions, and all of creation
• Our participation in structures and institutions where evil persists

Consider using the following ideas in a prayer of confession:

• Penitence
• Silence before, after, or during the prayer to confess or think about personal sins
• Sung refrains
• Spoken corporate refrains
• Images, metaphors, or keywords from scripture

The prayer of confession can follow the Call to Confession and can be followed by an Assurance of Pardon and Passing of the Peace.

Why do we confess our sins?

Our God longs for honesty and holiness within the promise-based relationship God has established with us in Christ. In a culture that avoids talk of sin and culpability, regular prayers of confession foster honesty and openness in our relationship with God. Just as a marriage cannot flourish without honest confession, so our marriage-like relationship with God cannot flourish unless we freely and honestly express all facets of our life: hopes, fears, sins, desires, thanksgiving, and praise.

Blessed by God's providence, we don't offer our prayers of confession in a spiritual vacuum with a remote hope that some god or higher power will listen and forgive. We confess sin in the context of the covenant Lord's love shown to us through Jesus Christ. We offer our confession as part of a covenantal relationship. For this reason, the confession and assurance part of a worship service is often the most explicitly dialogic, alternating between God's words to us and our words to God. We confess sin when prompted by God's gracious invitation. Then we hear the strong declaration of God's forgiveness in Christ. And we respond in joyful gratitude with praise and dedication.

Confession of sin is one of the healthiest things believers do. It's like taking out the garbage. Once is not enough. Healthy believers frankly own up to their shortcomings and trespasses, always aware that they pray from inside the cradle of God's grace. We confess to a generous God with whom our secrets are safe.

Many of us shrink from confession of sin. After all, it's mortifying. To say to God "I did it and it was wrong and I shouldn't have done it" or "I didn't do it, and that was wrong, and I should have done it" kills us. But that's its chief benefit. Our old, proud self that can't admit wrongdoing—that's the self that needs to die. It needs to clear the way for the resurrection of our new self—the self that is honest, humble, malleable in God's hands. Dying and rising with Christ is the centerpiece of regeneration, and honest confession of sin is a regular feature of it.

Why do we need to be honest when we confess our sins?

Not incidentally, honest acknowledgment of how we have wronged others is a mainstay of twelve-step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous. It's simply a way of squaring ourselves up with reality. It's one of the healthiest things we can do.

Honest confession of sin is painfully specific. Not "O God, I sometimes fudge on stuff and finesse the truth," but "O God, I deliberately broke my promise to Jim and then I lied about the reason." The more specific and painful, the better. We want to stab our old, proud self in the heart.

Honest confession acknowledges the wide scope of our sin. We have sinned "in our thoughts, and in our words, and in our deeds." We have sinned both "by what we have done and what we have left undone" (General Confession, Anglican Book of Common Prayer). What we have left undone includes duties we never even dreamed of doing.

As Psalm 19 suggests, honest confession acknowledges "hidden sins." They may be hidden from others, but not from God. They may be hidden even from ourselves, but not from God. The honest confessor owns up to the possibility that, when he confesses, his shifty psyche manages to conceal half of his sins. Our capacity for self-deception on our sin is profound.

I may not know even how sincere I am when I confess. I may believe I am contrite. I may believe I am sincerely sorry for harming others and grieving God. But what if I confess my sins just to take out the garbage and feel better afterward? What if I am put off by my sinfulness not because it harms others and grieves God but only because I think it's a lifestyle for scumbags and I'm way above all that? So honest confession of sin needs some semblance of "I think I'm contrite, O Lord, but I may be deceiving myself and so need salvation all the more."

Should we confess our sins to each other?

James says we should confess our sins to one another. Under most circumstances we should, and certainly when we have sinned against someone else. "What I did to you was so wrong, and I am so sorry." But confess all sins to all comers? Probably not. I must think about what my confession will do to others. They may not be able to handle it. They may become disillusioned about human nature and the power of the Christian faith to heal it. Of course, I may once again deceive myself about the reason I'm concealing my sin. Still, the thoughtful Christian will consider carefully whom he trusts, or perhaps burdens, with his secrets.

Where are prayers of confession in the Bible?

• Leviticus 5:5, confess the sin you have committed when you realize your guilt
• 2 Samuel 12:13, David's admission of sin
• Proverbs 28:13, no one who conceals transgressions will prosper
• Daniel 9:4–19, Daniel confesses to God on behalf of Israel
• Matthew 3:6, as they were baptized by John, the people confessed their sins
• James 4:8, "Cleanse your hands, you sinners"
• James 5:16, confess your sins to one another
• 2 Peter 3:9, the Lord wants all to come to repentance
• 1 John 1:8–9, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves

How do the psalms model prayers of confession?

The psalms model honesty and integrity in prayers of confession. These psalms can be used in prayers of confession or used as examples of prayers of confession.

• Psalm 6, "O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger"
• Psalm 19:12, "Who can detect their errors? Clear me from hidden faults"
• Psalm 25:6–8, 11, 16–18, remember us, Lord, in your great mercy and love
• Psalm 32, "While I kept silence, my body wasted away"
• Psalm 38, "I confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin"
• Psalm 51, "Have mercy on me, O God"
• Psalm 69:5, "O God, you know my folly"
• Psalm 79:9, "deliver us, and forgive our sins"
• Psalm 80:19, "Let your face shine, that we may be saved"
• Psalm 102, do not hide your face from me, Lord
• Psalm 130, "Out of the depths I cry"