of pardon from Psalm 103. The theological themes of sin and grace that inform the liturgical events of the confession of sin and the assurance of pardon will be explored here. Anne Lamott’s experience of “worship reluctance” may fairly be taken as a paradigm of the problem we have with worship: True worship does not come naturally to us. There are many things that keep us from worship—either from coming to church at all, or, having been persuaded to come, from actually engaging in genuine worship.