The Money Changers Seated At Their Tables
Predatory Lending

Responsive Reading

In mercy, O God, you confront us and expose our sin. May we respond in spirit and in truth, confessing our failure, reclaiming our hope.

In our lust for lifeless objects and our relentless pursuit for more, we cross the line between innocent desire and masked idolatry. We seek salvation in spiritless things, worship you for our own gratification, and see ourselves and each other as mere consumers and commodities.

Forgive us, O God, for we have sinned.   

In your mercy, raise us from the dead.

Breathe new life into your people. Empower us to be a prophetic community, speaking against unjust practices that prey on your children, living fully the gospel of Jesus.

Create in us a consuming passion to love and serve you.

(adapted from Robert B. Kruschwitz, Mastering Mammon, The Center for Christian Ethics, Baylor University ; found at www.baylor.edu/christianethics/index.php?id=14744)

Prayer of Confession

Most gracious God - we call upon your name and seek your mercies.

We know Lord that we are not worthy of your faithfulness, for we have been unfaithful.  Help us to walk with wisdom.

We confess to you, O Lord, that we often lose sight of what is important – that we cheat you, our brothers and sisters, and ourselves, because of our thoughtlessness, our fear, our greed, our pride.

We have offended you, O God - serving masters other than you.  We confess that we allow the love of money to cloud our judgment.  We confess that we ignore the plight of our low-income brothers and sisters who become victims of greed and usury.

Hear our prayer to you; forgive, and help us to walk with wisdom.

We confess to you, O Lord.

............... (silent prayer) ..............

Forgive us O Lord, and help us to walk with wisdom.

Touch us and make us whole.  Amen.

(adapted from Kir-Shalom, a lectionary resource website, www.spirit-net.ca/sermons/c-or25-98.html)

Prayer of Confession

Tender and Fierce God,
whose work is justice and whose delight is mercy,
forgive us for ignoring the cries of workers
who labor under the tyranny of harassment, violence and poverty.
Free us from greed
that comforts our bodies and eats away at our souls.
Free us for a life of joyful resistance
to evil, injustice and oppression
in whatever forms they present themselves;
through Jesus Christ our only Lord.  Amen.

(from Interfaith Worker Justice, www.nicwj.org/pages/materials.LIP2000txt.html)

When Greed Blinds Us

Benevolent God,

We acknowledge your manifold gifts to us – among them the gift of life, the gift of love, and the gift of the sacraments.  Yet we confess that too often we allow greed to blind us.  When greed blinds us, we cease to rejoice in your gifts; we no longer acknowledge your generosity.  When greed blinds us, we unwittingly condone the consistent and flagrant injustices that transpire around us daily.  When greed blinds us, we legitimate practices such as predatory lending, which serves to prey upon the poor and the ‘least of these.’  We ignore its stranglehold grasp on those less fortunate, blindly categorizing it as part of the ‘free market’ of our depraved society.  When greed blinds us, we accept this unrestrained usury as a necessary part of the economy, all the while ignoring its devastating effects upon those merely trying to survive.  Forgive us, benevolent God, when greed blinds us.  Remind us that we are called to justice – your justice – that preys not upon the weak, but rejoices in the dignity and humanity of all of your creation.  Help us to speak your gospel to those in the grips of this predatory practice, and against those involved in the oppression.  For it is with and through the power of the Holy Spirit that we pray, Amen.

(by Jason R. Jenkins)