Confession & Absolution drawn from the following readings:

Genesis 18:20–33
Psalm 138
Colossians 2:6–19
Luke 11:1–13

(with a specific emphasis on the Genesis text, Abraham pleading for Sodom)

P Because the outcry against humanity is great, and our sin is very grave, let us confess our sin to God.
C Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there is only One righteous within the world. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the One righteous who is in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just? Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose one is found there.
P Everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him! God found One righteous — His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ — and said, “For the sake of the One, I will not destroy it.” And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. Therefore, as a called and ordained servant of Christ and by His authority, I forgive you all your sin in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C Amen. I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. Your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.