Theology (the Prince of theSciences): Sanctity of Human Life Sunday

Today we had, in our silent prayer, a confession and then we had our confession of sin prayer and it is entirely appropos considering that unborn children are murdered at around the rate of 155 per hour. (About the number of people who were spared in the aircraft crash in the Hudson River recently.)

Here the confessions:

We beseech You, O God, to forgive those national sins which beset us: our heedlessness of those who come after us, if only we be served; our love of money, our contempt for small things and our worship of big thing; our neglect of backward peoples; our complacency; and our pride of life. For these wrongs done to our land and our heritage, as for right things left undone, forgive us, O Lord. Almighty God, give us grace to contend always for what is true and right, and to be ready if need be to suffer for it. Give us not over to fearfulness of soul, but lift us into that love which casts out fear, so that we may glorify and enjoy You now and for ever; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O God our Father, on behalf of ourselves and our nation we come to You humbly confessing our sins. Be merciful to us, O Lord. Remember not the offenses of your people and of this nation; do not deal with us as out sins deserve, nor reward us according to our wickedness. We confess to you our blindness of heart, our love of ease, our failure to do what is good, our worldly pride, our boasting, our hypocrisies as a people. We confess too our covetousness, which is idolatry; the love of money, the hard bargaining and ruthless competition, the hatred, the impurity, and the selfishness, the cruelty, and the violence against others young and old which so dishonor our national life; our failure to take account of the needs of other nations, our living to ourselves alone, and our putting of our trust in our own strength when our trust should be in You. All of these sins of which our nation is so terribly guilty, O Lord, we, your people, find in out own hearts as well. Forgive us, O Merciful Father, for Jesus' sake. Grant us and our beloved country repentance from sin and a true and living faith in Jesus Christ, that we may hallow Your name, that we may seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness, that we may love You and our neighbor with all our hearts, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

And for all those of the covenant (all true believers--the invisible church), we can hear/read/"grok" this:

He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.--Psalm 103:10-12 (NIV)