Interpretation of Confession of Sin: First Line "Most Merciful God"

In the denomination to which I belong, we have the Confession of Sin every Sunday morning and at other gatherings when the Eucharist is to be served. Here is what we pray:

Most 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.

We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

We are truly sorry

and we humbly repent.

For the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ,

have mercy on us and forgive us,

that we may delight in Your will

and walk in Your ways

to the glory of Your name

Amen.

Over the next several blogs, I would like to share my thoughts (based solely on my opinions) of the confession of sin – line by line. Having grown up in another denomination, I realize that this topic can be and probably is taboo in certain denominations. Feel free to leave your comments!

The first line of the confession is one of addressing God. In this line we acknowledge God and we acknowledge His mercifulness.

If you look up the word “most” in the on-line Thesaurus, it means “the majority,” “nearly everyone,” “nearly all.” However, when we are speaking of God, there is none like Him. There is no one higher, no one more merciful. Thus the first line could read something like this: The Most Merciful God – meaning when compared to any other person or idol - He is the most merciful. Or perhaps it could read: “All merciful God.”

“Merciful” means compassionate, kindhearted, generous, lenient. What an awesome description of God – that He is compassionate, kindhearted, generous and lenient!

GOD – Almighty, Divine, Deity, Majestic, Royalty – There are not enough words in the English language to describe the awesomeness of God!