Ah, Lord, great and awesome God, keeping covenant and steadfast love with those who love you and keep your commandments, we have sinned and done wrong, acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from being loving. We have not listened to your teachings, which you brought yourself to all of the earth.
Righteousness is on your side, O Lord, but open shame, as at this day, falls on us, the people of your Church, those who are faithful and those who are stumbling, who find themselves in all sorts of places to which you have driven them because of the treachery that they have committed against you.
Open shame, O Lord, falls on us, our pastors, our leaders, and those who have come before us, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to live a life of love, which he set modeled us when He walked among us.
All the Church has transgressed your law of love and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. So the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against you. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our pastors, by giving us over to our own selfish desires and allowing us to toil away at this institution we have created.
Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us. We did not entreat the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and reflecting on his fidelity. So the Lord kept watch over this calamity until he brought it upon us. Indeed, the Lord our God is right in all that he has done; for we have disobeyed his voice.
And now, O Lord our God, who sent your Son down to earth and established your kingdom through the Church and made your name known even to this day — we have sinned, we have done wickedly. O Lord, in view of all your righteous acts, let your anger and wrath, we pray, turn away from your Church, your holy people; because of our sins and the iniquities of those before us, your kingdom and your Church have become a disgrace among all our neighbors.
Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his supplication, and for your own sake, Lord, let your face shine upon your desolated sanctuary. Incline your ear, O my God, and hear. Open your eyes and look at our desolation and the Church that bears your name.
We do not present our supplication before you on the ground of our righteousness, but on the ground of your great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, listen and act and do not delay! For your own sake, O my God, because your Church and your people bear your name!
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This is an exercise I do some times. I take a prayer from the Bible and rework it into modern terms. I try to keep the heart of the author and say what he would say today. The original prayer is in Daniel 9. I think it is my favorite prayer in the Bible.
Watch out for potholes
