Penance

Joel 1:13-14, “Put on sackcloth and lament, you priests; wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, pass the night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God! Grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God. Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.” As the faithful Jews of the world gather in their holy sanctuaries for prayer and worship this Day of Atonement, let us pray with them the confession and cleansing of people in need of repentance and a return to holy living.

We hurry about daily without regard to what God expects of us. We rush about getting ‘things’ done on our to-do lists and we forget what God wants and needs from us. We have our agenda and our list to do. We also need to repent and to come clean with God. At a time when the world is rising against Israel and the Jewish people again, let’s take this time to come together in prayer and repentance with the Jewish people.

Prayer: Redeemer God who loves us when we are unlovable and seeks us when we are unwanted, thank you for loving and seeking us. Cleanse our hearts; make pure our ways, hear our prayers of confession and our heart rent repentance. Forgive us Father where we have failed you and failed one another. Help us to live upright and holy lives. In Jesus’ Name we pray. AMEN!