Opening Litany and Confession based on Psalm 137 for Narrative Lectionary

Opening Litany and Confession based on Psalm 137

Pastor: By the rivers of Babylon the people sat and wept when they remembered their homeland.  They hung up their harps when their tormentors demanded entertainment saying, “Sing us joyful songs of your homeland.”

Congregation: we want things the way they used to be.  We remember the glorious days of old, when in our memory, all was right and good.  Sometimes we don’t even know if we can make it in this world.

Pastor: Sometimes we want to live in the past, clinging to the false memory of how thing were, clinging to thoughts of revenge.

Congregation: We confess that we are sinful and unclean.  We have sinned with our selfish ambition against God’s view of the world in what we have done and in what we have left undone.  We have not loved God with our whole heart and we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

Pastor: Forgive us Lord, and send your mercy upon us

Congregation: Forgive us Lord, and open our eyes and hearts to your calling, your vision for this world.

Pastor: And this is the greatest commandment, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself

Congregation: We will strive to be the children of God in this world, loving God and loving others.

Pastor: Go forth and live as the children of God, showing mercy and seeing all those whom you encounter as your brothers and sisters in the family of God, Amen.