The following originally appeared as part of "Rooted and Established in Love—Week 10: The Fruitful Tree."
Call to Confession
Galatians 5 calls us to confess our sins: So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.
—Galatians 5:16–17 NLT
Prayer of Confession
“Gracious Spirit, Heed Our Pleading”(st. 1–3) Niwaglia
Gracious Spirit, you desire good: good in the world and good in our lives. You have given us ways to know you and ways to know what your will is for us. But we confess that our wants and our desires cause us to turn away, to choose our own will and our own way. We think it will lead us to where we want to be, but God, we know that your way is the way of life eternal. So we pray for your Holy Spirit to work within us, to guide and lead us, to help us bear fruit, to grow and cultivate in us the way of life. Come, Holy Spirit, come.
—Kathryn Roelofs © 2025 ReformedWorship.org, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Revised Common Lectionary
Year C: Season after Pentecost—Proper 8 (13)
