Time of Preparation
Begin by taking inventory of your surroundings. Are things in your vicinity conducive to a time of personal worship? Are there any changes or adjustments (turning off tech, making yourself comfortable) you need to make before you begin?
When you are ready, take some time to sit in silence and prepare your heart for worship. Ask God to clear away any distractions that might keep you from being truly present in this moment.
Confession
In this second movement, we simply see ourselves for who we are: people who need God.
“My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”
—Psalm 51:17 (NIV)
Like the prophet Isaiah, an encounter with a holy God makes us all too aware of our own sin. But this is not something to be avoided. In fact, it is something to be embraced. We should desire an awareness of our sin, because such awareness leads to a greater revelation of God’s remarkable love and grace.
The Puritan minister Richard Alleine captured both the pain and beauty of recognizing our brokenness in a prayer he wrote in 1660. Spend some time reading this prayer slowly and reflectively. Soak in the truth that a broken heart before God is a beautiful thing, a place of honesty and also a place of tender mercy.
I mourn, Lord, and I lament.
I weep, but it is because I cannot mourn or lament as I should.
If I could mourn as I ought, I would be comforted.
If I could weep, I would rejoice.
If I could sigh, I would sing.
If I could lament, I would live.But I die. I die, and my heart dies within me, because I cannot cry.
I cry, Lord, but not for sin.
I cry, I beg for tears for sin.
I cry, Lord, my calamities cry, my bones cry, my soul cries, my sins cry, “Lord, for a broken heart.”But look: I am not broken yet.
The rocks tear apart, the earth quakes, the heavens drop, the clouds weep, the sun will blush, the moon be ashamed, the foundations of the earth will tremble at the presence of the Lord.
But this heart neither breaks nor trembles.
If only I had a broken heart!
If I did, you would have your way in my heart.What would be impossible, if my heart were tender?
Work would be easy.
Pains would be a pleasure.
Burdens would be light.
Neither the commands nor the cross would be severe.
Nothing would be hard except sin.Where are you, fear?
Come and plough up this rock.
Where are you, love?
Come and thaw this ice,
Come and warm this dead lump,
Come and enlarge this poverty-stricken spirit.
Then will I run the way of your commandments.I accept of all that is yours, both your yoke and your cross.
I accept you, Lord—your love, and whatever you will.
Lord, if you love, let me love you.
I will seek, until I can see.
Let me see, until I can love.My all is with you: my help, my hope, my treasure.
My life is hidden with Christ in God.
Yet this is all nothing to me, while my heart is not with you.Take it, Lord; take it up.
Where my treasure is, there let my heart be also. Amen.—Richard Alleine
SONG OF CONFESSION: Humbled Heart (lyrics here)