A prayer of confession for our congregation led by Richard Maust on October 24, 2021.
“Glorious and gracious God,
“You are the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. The entire universe is Yours.
“Yet, we confess we often do not believe in Your final victory over sin and death. We fail to trust in Your promise to reveal Your new heaven and earth, and to restore Your creation at the end of time.
"In our pride, we focus on our abilities. In our faithlessness, we focus on our struggles. In our self-centeredness, we focus on our failures. We lose patience and we lose hope, and too many times we lose our grip on faith.
“Lord, we wear masks to hide who we truly are, we neglect gathering together, we Americans spend so much time watching screens yet we don’t take time for You and to love our neighbor. Lord God help us to turn our eyes from our screens to You.
“Lord God, too often we are caught between the selfishness of wanting to do whatever we want without regard for others, and wanting to be helpful and generous. Please help us. Help us to lean on You and each other when things get hard. Remind us every day that in You alone lies our hope.
“God, we tend to forget people, or avoid them – the difficult ones, the needy ones, the ones that are hard to spend time with, the ones who confront us. So often Lord it’s not really about those people, but about us. We are uncomfortable, or we may feel guilty. We tend toward brighter, shinier people, and we worry about what will make us look good.
“We are in such desperate need of your forgiveness. We need to be forgiven for our sin, for our failures, formistaking what the world values with what you value.
“Lord we fail to reach out to everyone, choosing instead to stick to socializing with the ones we are comfortable with to the neglect of others. Forgive us and free us from our sin, O Lord.
“Remind us that You are coming again, remind us of the time when You will dwell with us as our God, when You wipe away all tears from our eyes, when death, pain, and suffering will be no more because You have made all things new to the glory of Your name. Amen."
Thank you, Richard and Linda, for your many years of love and ministry at Anniston Bible Church. May the Lord protect you and prosper you as you transition to a new community in Pell City. You will always be in our hearts. We love you. ~ Bob St. John