A #MeToo Prayer of Confession

Gracious heavenly Father, we have sinned. Please hear this #metoo prayer of confession.

Please forgive us individually and collectively for our sexual sin. As a society, we have not loved our neighbor well. We are covered in shame because we have not followed your ways. We’re a mess. What hope is there apart from your grace? Will our sexual freedom save us? If all our fantasies come true, will they bring us peace? Will our unfaithfulness bring us fulfillment?

Lord, my heart is especially heavy-laden for the women of our so-called progressive society—our mothers, sisters, friends, and daughters. We hear only a fraction of the stories of women, treated as sexual objects, pressured or punished for resisting sexual advances and abuse. Women treated as things. Dear women used and then tossed aside. Oh God, what have we done? And we know there are far more stories left untold. We see in part what you see in whole. The way we treat women isn’t merely inappropriate; it isn’t just boys being boys—it is unacceptable evil. And this evil has pervaded every aspect of our society; it’s everywhere. Women are abused, mistreated, and disrespected in every industry, state, political party, religion—seemingly everywhere. Lord, if you judged us only on our treatment of women, we would stand condemned. Oh God, what can we do?

We trust that you are a God who is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love (Ps 103:8). And we believe that if we confess our sins, you will be faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1Jn 1:9). So we confess. We repent. Help us to turn from our sinful and unloving ways of thinking, speaking, and acting toward one another. We’re barely aware of how we wound each other. We’re just starting to see how physical appearance, how sexual attraction, is the sliding scale we use to measure the men and women in our schools, churches, neighborhoods, and workplaces. We’re just noticing the arsenal of justifications we’ve built in our minds for our lingering second glances, pressuring suggestive comments, and self-centered, self-appointed sexual “rights.”

Forgive us, we pray. We need an awakening and revival of your Spirit. Guide us along the right paths for your name’s sake. And, oh Lord, please heal and restore the victims of sexual sin—of harassment, assault, abuse, and rape. We know that you identify with and bring comfort to victims of abuse, including Rahab, Tamar, and Bathsheba who are in the lineage of Christ (Mt 1).

May your mercy and love build up what has been torn down. May the good news of Jesus—including the forgiveness of sin AND justice for the victim that it offers—be the balm that brings healing. And may we as a people love one another as you have loved us—deeply, sacrificially, and unconditionally.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.