These unison confessional prayers were created to accompany the stewardship sermon series Church in Progress. You are welcome to use or adapt these liturgies for worship, with credit. When printing these liturgies, please use the following credit line: “Prayer by Rev. Carol Holbrook Prickett.”
Week 1: “Work in Progress”
God of grace and mercy, we confess
that we are impatient for perfection.
We want our struggles to be over now.
We want our lives to be polished now.
We want our relationships to be breezy now.
We want our faith to be rock-solid now.
We want all our dreams to come true
with the snap of a finger.
Remind us, God, how much more meaningful
the slow path can be.
Remind us that our need to make progress
is not your punishment, but your gift:
that you walk with imperfect people,
so that we can see in real time
the power of your love. Amen.
Week 2: “God at Work”
God of grace and mercy, we confess
that we have crowded you out of our lives
with a thousand other claims on our time and energy;
we have crowded you out of our minds,
with a thousand petty obsessions;
we have crowded you out of our hearts
with a self-serving love of our own desires.
Work in us again, to clear a space for you:
that we might be empty of what does not matter
and full of the love and joy of Christ. Amen.
Week 3: “Pressing On”
God of grace and mercy, we confess that we are tired.
Some days, everything is hard, faith included.
Some days, your good words of peace and hope seem very far away.
Some days, we would like to turn our backs
on everything that asks for our time and energy.
Help us.
Help us root ourselves so deeply in your love
that serving is a joy and not a burden.
Help us find the energy and the courage and the grit
to keep pressing on in faith,
trusting that every mile of this journey
will matter in the end. Amen.
Week 4: “Keep On”
God of grace and mercy, we confess
that sometimes our lives feel the opposite
of everything you have asked of us.
We are short-tempered and frantic,
dispirited and distressed,
distracted by the worst the world has to offer—
sometimes, dear God, we even secretly enjoy
rubbernecking at human suffering.
And the worst of it, God,
is that when all our sinful habits
make you seem so far away,
we act like it’s your fault.
Amend us, Lord.
Train our minds and hearts.
Open us to the joy we can find
in prayer, in thanksgiving, in gentleness.
Help us to live differently
than how we’ve been.
We pray with trust
that you can do this. Amen.
Deep Well Worship 