The season of Lent is a time to do some cleaning of our hearts. Life in the world and in our sinful flesh creates a build-up over time of actions, attitudes, and desires that need eliminated. The lent season is a gift to us of space to reflect on the ways we displease God and to acknowledge our need of a Savior. Awareness of these two truths leads us to do the cleansing work of confession so that our hearts are ready to receive the new life that comes through Christ’s resurrection.
When we clean out a closet in our houses, we get rid of the clothes that don’t fit any more. We throw away anything useless. We rearrange what is left. This work is done to create space for the new. Our spiritual lives function the same way. We admit where we are wrong. We give to God the places that are hurt. We get rid of the useless habits that weight us down. When we’ve done this work in confession and repentance, our hearts are clean and ready to replace the sinful with the new and the eternal.
If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old is gone and the new is here (2 Corinthians 5:17). This verse tells of new strength. New power. New insight. New life. All of these come after a period of confession.
Lent is an important time of growth, and we must do our best to let it have its way with us. Over the next forty days, how will you clean house in your soul? What are some attitudes or habits that you need to get rid of? Below is and order of prayers and Scripture you can use as you spend time in confession and repentance.
Call to Prayer
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Prayer of Confession
O Lord, you desire truth in our inward being; teach us wisdom in our secret heart. Send out your light, send out your truth, and let them lead us to our home. Take from us the weight of our sin that room might be made for the spirit of truth. If we prepare a dwelling place, that spirit will abide within us, and the truth will set our spirits free. Then shall we love not only in word or in speech; then shall we love in deed and in truth, and by this know that our service is faithful. O Lord, you desire truth in our inward being; teach us wisdom in our secret heart. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
Grant to your faithful people, merciful Lord, pardon and peace; that we may be cleansed from all our sins and serve you with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Venite
O come, let us sing unto the Lord; let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and show ourselves glad in him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods. In his hand are all the depths of the earth, and the heights of the hills are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands prepared the dry land. O come, let us worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker. For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tested me, and put me to the proof, though they had seen my works. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation and said, “It is a people that err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways,” Of whom I swore in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
Psalm: Psalm 95
Gloria Patri
Glory be to the Father, and to the son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen
Scripture Readings
Old Testament: Exodus 17:1-7
New Testament: Romans 1:16-32
Gospel: John 4:5-42
Benedictus es, Domine
Glory to you, Lord God of our fathers; you are worthy of praise, glory to you.
Glory to you for the radiance of your holy Name; we will praise you and highly exalt you forever.
Glory to you in the splendor of your temple; on the throne of your majesty, glory to you.
Glory to you, seated between the Cherubim; we will praise you and highly exalt you forever.
Glory to you, beholding the depth; in the high vault of heaven, glory to you.
Glory to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; we will praise you and highly exalt you forever.
Intercession
For The Discouraged and Downcast
O God, almighty and merciful, you heal the broken-hearted, and turn the sadness of the sorrowful to joy. Let your fatherly goodness be upon all whom you have made. Remember in pity all those who are this day destitute, homeless, elderly, infirm, or forgotten. Bless the multitude of your poor. Lift up those who are cast down. Mightily befriend innocent sufferers, and sanctify to them the endurance of their wrongs. Cheer with hope all who are discouraged and downcast, and by your heavenly grace preserve from falling those whose poverty tempts them to sin. Though they be troubled on every side, suffer them not to be distressed; though they are perplexed, save them from despair. Grant this, O Lord, for the love of him who for our sakes became poor, your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your Name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen
Collect
Heavenly Father, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. Look with compassion upon the heartfelt desires of your servants, and purify our disordered affections, that we may behold your eternal glory in the face of Christ Jesus; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Benediction
May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sources
The Book of Common Prayer. (Huntington Beach, CA: Anglican Liturgy Press, 2019).
The Worship Sourcebook. (Kalamazoo, MI: Faith Alive Christian Resources, 2004).
Worship the Lord, The Liturgy of the Reformed Church in America. (Reformed Church Press, 2005).
