come into being! ~2 Corinthians 5:17

During the seasons of Advent and Lent, times when we are preparing for something (birth during Advent and resurrection during Lent), we will pray a unison prayer of confession. We do not pray those prayers because we are fundamentally bad people. Rather we pray those prayers in order to remember that God has the ability to transform us, even when we are not the best people that God calls us to be. God can turn even our failures around when we are honest enough to recognize and acknowledge them.

After the confession, Pastor Laura or I always offer words of forgiveness, words that recognize the

extraordinary power to transform our lives comes from God, not from us. Often, part of that assurance

comes from the scripture verse above, anyone in Christ is a new creation! On Sunday, we will explore

what that means.