O, God, when we pause to look back at our lives on this Ash Wednesday, we realize that we have been weighed in the balance and found wanting.
We have neglected to do good when it was in our power to do so.
We, like believers of old, have pulled down your altarsand erected idols crafted in our own image.
We have turned our backs on the poor, choosing instead to criminalize poverty.
We have ignored the cries of the motherless, the fatherless,the widow and the widowerchoosing instead to turn children and the elderly into the new poor.
We have bankrupted the country with our greed andconsumed more than our share of the world's riches
We have not dealt honorably with our enemies or our friends, and we have feigned a place in the company of the righteous.
Forgive us, O God, for turning sackcloth and ashes into a fashion statementby pursuing form without substance.
Forgive us, O God, for the times we have neglected to provide our childrenand our world an authentic example of Christianity.
As we begin the journey of these 40 days
Wash us, O God and we shall be clean
Cleanse us, O Lord, and we shall be made whole. Amen.
(Silence)
Words of assurance: Hear the Good News. The LORD, our God, is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love (Joel 2:13). God hears the earnest cries of the repentant and forgives our sins.
A Corporate Call to Confession for Ash Wednesday, Year B Copyright © 2009 General Board of Discipleship. All Rights Reserved. Posted on the General Board of Discipleship Worship website: www.umcworship.org. About the Author: The Rev. Dr. Safiyah Fosua serves as the Director of Invitational Preaching Ministries at the General Board of Discipleship in Nashville, TN, and is a clergy member of the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference. Safiyah is the associate editor of The Africana Worship Book series, the author of several books and writes Preaching Helps for the General Board of Discipleship's Worship Website, www.umcpreaching.org.
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