Confession

I love the eloquence of this prayer for humility and confession. Taken from the order of the Mass as the Church at Strasbourg now celebrates it:

Make your confession to God the Lord, for He is good, and His mercy is everlasting. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and Thou forgavest the inquity of my sin. And I, poor sinner, confess before God the Almighty, that I have sinned grievously through the transgression of His Law; that I have done much that I should not have done, and have left undone much that I should have done, through unbelief and distrust towards God; and that I am lacking in love towards my fellow-ministers and to-wards my neighbours.

God knoweth how great is my guilt, and I repent, O God, be gracious unto me, a poor sinner; and be merciful, for my sins are many. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to”save sinners, of whom I am the chief. Lord, I believe; help Thou my unbelief, and grant me salvation. Amen.

Excerpted from William D. Maxwell’s An Outline of Christian Worship- Its Development and Forms