Living Within Grace

Confessing Sins

Holy One,

   In your presence & the presence
       of our Christian community,
          we lay our sins before you.

   We live as if the resurrection,
       never happened.

    We live as if your grace is a
       “Get Out of Jail Free” card,
            & fail to live fully within
                 your grace.

     Forgive us for failing to offer,
       our bodies, minds, & hearts,
          as instruments of your grace.

   Contritely & humbly,
        we recommit ourselves to you.
   Amen.

Receiving Assurance

   Look around you.
       Look in each face.

   Look at the wheat as it germinates
       and bursts forth from the earth.

   Look at the sage that heals hearts
       and cleanses spirits.

    Look inside,
        seeing the divinity within you.

   Look at the blue sky &
each creature and person.

   Grace abounds!
   Grace belongs to you!

You are forgiven!

About Tim Graves

Tim is a runner, a hiker, a devoted husband, a father of two adult children and their spouses, and Granddaddy to four perfect children. Retired from early childhood education and ministry, Tim writes from his home in rural northwest Connecticut or wherever life takes him.