That the Church would be the Church

As promised, here is the full text of the prayer of confession for our National Day of Prayer service, stemming from the idea that the best thing for America is for the church to be the church.
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On this National Day of Prayer in which the eyes of our nation are directed to you, the living and true God, we your church gather in the name of Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords, to confess that
· we your people, called by your name, do not humble ourselves and pray but instead go about our business in prideful self-sufficiency and willful neglect of your commandments and decrees, unconcerned for the name of Jesus Christ that we bear and inattentive to his design for us as his disciples;
· we do not seek your face nor turn from our loveless indifference and worldly preoccupations, actually tolerating and even enjoying the corruptions of this world to the dishonor of you who has called us to be holy as you are holy;
· we are not salt and light to our nation, nor do we desire to be, content to dabble in “Christian” practice and use you for our ends;
· we do not seek first your kingdom and righteousness, instead looking to devote our affections and dedicate our resources to seeking first our own kingdoms and glory, happy to build bigger barns to hold our goods, forgetting that all we have comes from you our God and that it all, along with our very selves, belongs to you;

O Lord, our sin abounds. Yet your grace super-abounds. In Christ, our sins are forgiven, our guilt is atoned for and the wrath we deserve is spent. Yet shall we continue in sin that grace may increase? May it never be! Work in us the grace of repentance and bring forth in us the fruit of that repentance. Make us to be a light to our nation, shining with the truth of your Word, glaring with the brilliance of your glory, conspicuous as a display of your grace.

Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayers of your servants and to our pleas for mercy, and for your own sake. O Lord, make your face to shine upon us. Renew us. Refresh us. Restore us. Bless and transform this nation through our faithfulness to your purpose for us as your church.

Gracious God and Father, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, the disrepair of your church and the disability of the people that are called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy bound up in the precious blood of Jesus Christ. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your church and your people are called by your name.

For Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.