We have confessed our imperfection to you O God,
and we have received your forgiveness.
the old cycles that held us captive.
For without you,
we are caught up in the universal cycle
of cause and effect,
of pain and retribution,
or trying to earn a salvation
that remains far distant from us.
So thank you for your grace.
Thank you for loving us
with the love of a perfect Parent—
a love that asks no questions,
that doesn’t change when we have disobeyed,
that need not be earned, and that does not end.
Thank you for creating us in your image,
giving us the freedom
to love others as you have loved us,
and to forgive our debtors as we have been forgiven.
Help us to live beyond ourselves
even as you have given of yourself to make us complete.
Give us grace
to see in our neighbor’s welfare our own fulfillment.
Grant us insight into life
not as the world tells us it must be lived,
but according to your love:
for the least among us,
for those we’re told are our enemies,
for those who are too often overlooked.
Teach us the language of grace
and convert our thought patterns.
Make the road to Easter
a path of transformation for your people,
for we pray it in the Name of the One who died
that we might live, even Jesus Christ our Sovereign.
Amen.
