November 18

This Sunday our class will compose the Prayer of Confession for the 1st Advent Sunday in December. The scripture selections are as follows:

JEREMIAH 33:14-16

¹⁴The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. ¹⁵In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ¹⁶In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: "The LORD is our righteousness."

Luke 1:5-24  John’s Birth Announced to Zacharias

I don't have a template, but here are some steps that might help write the prayer of confession each week: 1. Start with the passage from Jeremiah. The Call to Worship will be based on this passage, and I don't know whether people really realize it or not, but the prayer of confession is always a continuation of the Call to Worship, so start with the passage from Jeremiah and identify key terms or phrases that resonate with you: "he shall execute justice and righteousness", "a righteous branch shall spring up" 2. Then I ask myself, "am I a good example of what the passage is talking about?", meaning, "do I execute justice and righteousness?" "am I like a righteous branch?" 3. If I'm not, then I need to say why: "because I've been more interested in riches than righteousness" "I've executed convenience rather than justice..." 4. Come to a point where you can pause for silence 5. Then sum up what you're saying for the last line Looking at some old bulletins might be helpful. Good luck!