Confession of Sin

Our church is a far cry from being a liturgical church, though compared to the church I grew up in, it is very liturgical.  If it were up to me (which it is not), I would probably prefer a little more liturgy, but I enjoy the stuff we do get in the service.

We have been keeping HC with us for the beginning part of the worship service before we send her off to her class.  Actually, truth be told, we are in the process of deciding when HC should begin sitting through the entire worship service.  Most of the children begin sitting through the entire service at 3rd or 4th grade, but it looks like we want to do something a little different (surprise).  In this discussion, and in the practice of having HC with us for the beginning part of worship we have been more cognizant of our own participation in worship, and have sought to explain to her the different elements of worship.

I was encouraged by a book that I recently stumbled upon, "With the Children on Sundays" which you can actually read online, that an important practice is to "play" church with your children.  This also helps in teaching them about the different elements of worship.  I thought this was a great idea, though we have yet to totally "play" church, I have spent some time talking to HC and Annelise about our worship's confession of sin.

Here is an example of what we might say as a congregation:
Merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.  We have not loved you with our whole heart and mind and strength.  We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.  In your mercy forgive what we have been, help us amend what we are, and direct what we shall be, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your holy name.  Amen.

This week I have been practicing this with the girls and trying to teach them what it means to confess our sins to God.  We have spent most of our time talking about this during our morning family worship time, and I have been giving them a time to think about something they have done wrong and to pray and ask God to forgive them.  In worship we do this silently, but I feel like we need to do this aloud for a while so that we can all get the hang of it.

Yesterday Annelise wanted to go first, though she has a little harder time understanding what we are doing.  After some coaching, she started out, "Dear God, please forgive me..." and then she paused and HC piped up, "for being foolish and not making wise choices" which then Annelise repeated.  I was trying not to laugh as I witnessed my 4 year old tell my 3 year old what she needed to confess, but it worked.  And then when it was HC's turn she said, "Dear God, please forgive me when I disobey, please save me, and wash my heart all clean.  In Jesus' name, Amen." Oh, that one day she will more fully understand these words that she prayed today.