I love the prayer of confession in the rite for Morning Prayer. Here is the version found in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer (BCP), and in John Wesley’s 1784 Sunday Service of Methodists in North America.
Almighty and most merciful Father;
We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep.
We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts.
We have offended against thy holy laws.
We have left undone those things which we ought to have done;
And we have done those things which we ought not to have done;
And there is no health in us.
But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders.
Spare thou them, O God, who confess their faults.
Restore thou them that are penitent;
According to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake;
That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life,
To the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.
The prayer is part of the Daily Office for Anglicans. Wesley retained most of the liturgy for Morning Prayer, but only commended its use on the Lord’s Day.
In its 1979 edition of the BCP, the Episcopal Church (TEC) eliminated the line “There is no health in us” from Rite 1, and removed the phrase “miserable offenders” from the petition for mercy.
The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) rite for Morning Prayer (2019 BCP) also eliminates “miserable offenders” but retains “there is no health in us,” prefaced by the phrase, “Apart from your grace.”
TEC’s Rite 2 for Morning Prayer uses an altogether different prayer of confession.
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.
This version, or something similar, is also commonly used in Sunday worship in many traditions. My wife prefers it because it includes the summary of the law. We have failed to love both God and our neighbors. There is a vertical and a horizontal component to our sin. The prayer also acknowledges that we sin not just in what we do, but in what we say and think. It’s a good prayer.
The 1662 prayer similarly acknowledges that we have offended against God’s holy law in what we have done and in what we have failed to do. There is a legal component to our sin, for which we need to be forgiven. I confess that, yes, I am guilty of offenses against God’s law, but my condition is so much worse than that.
I err. I make mistakes. Life is complex. No one is omniscient. I am a bear of very little brain. Both knowledge and wisdom are in short supply. I often have to choose how to act when I don’t have all the information I should have. My options may not be right or wrong, but better or worse. I cannot predict the unintended consequences of my actions. I don’t have the mental or emotional capacity to give every decision unlimited attention. It’s true that I often excuse my wrongdoing by saying, “I’m only human. Everyone makes mistakes.” It’s not a mistake to do what God has forbidden, or to fail to do what God has commanded. It’s an offense against God’s law. Nevertheless, I do make thoughtless or innocent mistakes that sometimes have grave consequences. The absence of ill intent doesn’t undo the harm that I have done.
I stray from God’s ways. I am inattentive to God’s voice and wander carelessly away from my provider and defender. Staying attentive to God is difficult. Sometimes I don’t want to do it, so I don’t do it. At other times, I just find myself far from him and I don’t know what happened.
Consequently, I am like a lost sheep. (Matthew 9:36, Luke 15:3—6) I am confused and disoriented and I don’t know which way to go. Sometimes I am completely clueless. Without my shepherd, I am vulnerable before the powers of evil in this present age. I am lost and afraid, and I need my shepherd to find me.
Moreover, my heart is deceitful and full of trickery (Jeremiah 17:9), and I too often get trapped in its devices. I am driven by my own wants and desires. I find it impossible to act from pure motives or escape my own biases. My will is captive to what’s going on inside me.
My soul is deeply unhealthy – sick unto death, really – and I need a physician (Luke 8:31).
Interestingly, the 1662 prayer never mentions forgiveness, at least not directly.
We need to be spared. From God’s campaign against the destructive power of sin, death and the devil. From the consequences of our ignorance, inattention, lostness, self-deception, self-interest, and spiritual bondage.
We need to be restored. To a right relationship with our God our church, our neighbors, and our world. To wholeness as human beings created in the image of God.
We need mercy, which is simply a cry for help from the God who knows our brokenness better than we do ourselves.
God’s full salvation is more than forgiveness of our legal debts. It is deliverance from the hells of our own making. It is rescue from our fallen estate. It is restoration of our full humanity. It is healing for the soul.
Mitchell Lewis 