People have been making confessions for centuries.
Their words can become our words
when we need help with our confession.

Today I’m sharing four short prayers —
the first from the 18th century,
the second from the 19th century,
a third from the 20th century,
and finally one from the 21st century.

Pick your century.
Choose your confession.
Come clean and then leave clean.

From “The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions”

Merciful Lord,
Pardon all my sins of this day, week, year,
all the sins of my life,
sins of early, middle, and advanced years,
sins in private and in the family,
sins against light and knowledge.
Pardon all my sins,
known and unknown,
felt and unfelt,
confessed and not confessed,
remembered or forgotten.
Good Lord, hear;
and hearing, forgive.

From Rev. George Ridding — 1867

Lord, open our minds to see ourselves as you see us.
Save us and help us, O Lord.
From pride and self-will,
from the desire to have our own way in all things,
from an overweening love of our own ideas,
and blindness to the value of others.
Save us and help us, O Lord.
From strife and division,
from magnifying our certainties to condemn all differences,
from all arrogance in our dealings with others.
Save us and help us, O Lord.

From “The Book of Common Worship” — 1906

Gracious God,
our sins are too heavy to carry,
too real to hide,
and too deep to undo.

Forgive what our lips tremble to name,
what our hearts can no longer bear,
and what has become for us
a consuming fire of judgment.

Set us free from a past that we cannot change;
open to us a future in which we can be changed;
and grant us grace to grow more and more in your likeness and image,
through Jesus Christ, the light of the world.

Scotty Smith: Heavenward — 2012

I’m annoyed, irritated and wound up tight.
I have been for several weeks.
Please gentle and soften my edgy and crusty heart,
by your grace and for your glory.

I can offer explanations, but I won’t make excuses.
I just come to you as the knotted mess that I am.
You are filled with mercy, compassion and patience.
You convict me without condemning me.
You humble me without humiliating me.
You don’t just tell me what to do, you give me yourself.
What would I do without you Jesus?

I repent of keeping a record of others’ wrongs.
I repent of not repenting.

Convict me when my sense of humor reveals a lack of kindness;
when my poor manners show a lack of love;
when my words tear down more than they build up.
I pray in your powerful and holy name.