A JUBILEE PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY

God, you chose us to be holy and blameless before you; we confess lives that do not truly show that we follow you. We seek far more our own advantage than your will, following our own concerns and paying more attention to other voices than to your Word.

Lord, we stand before you with our sins and our shortcomings

God, you have destined us for adoption as your children through Jesus Christ. We confess difficulty accepting one another as brothers and sisters. Building walls and barriers, we deny love and respect to one another. By words and deeds, both done and undone, we do not live the truth of having been made your children, one family in Christ.

Lord, we stand before you with our sins and our shortcomings

God, you have lavished on us the riches of your grace and have made known to us the mystery of your will, to gather up all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth; we confess having sight of your riches and the goal of your grace. We have forgotten your reconciliation embraces all; we forget that the hope of this world lies in you and we find ourselves working together for division, conflict and enmity.

Lord, we stand before you with our sins and our shortcomings

God, you have given us your Word of truth and the gift of your Holy Spirit; we confess having given too litle room to your Word and your Spirit among us. Drawing water from our own wells, they dry up. We turn away from the means of renewal and stifle your Spirit in self-sufficiency, indifference and laziness.

Lord, we stand before you with our sins and our shortcomings. Grant us your mercy and grace, for in Christ we have redemption through his blood and the forgiveness of sins.

Oh Lord, our God, in this new millennium, grant that all those who work for the unity of the Christians might persist in hope. Bring about our reconciliation as Christians and churches, despite all that divides us. Pour out the Holy Spirit upon your people that He might encourage us against all odds to expect that your will and pupose might yet be accomplished, that when our faith is tested, we too will rejoice even in our sufferering, believing that what we endure for the sake of Christian unity might renew us in hope, to the praise of your glory. Amen