The Presbyterian "We"

Growing up in the Presbyterian Church, I got used to saying the prayer of confession as part of services.  This was a prayer prayed in unison and printed in the bulletin that acknowledged our need for Christ because of sin every week.  The sins in the prayer of confession were often very general, and I remember thinking as I was growing up, "this one doesn't really apply to me," or something along those lines, as we were praying this printed prayer.  And, as my wife pointed out when we were dating, how can whoever writes these things possibly know whether I have committed a particular sin or not?  The prayer of confession is written in the first person plural, though -- "we," not "I."  Which brings me to this point -- the "we" of the prayer of confession is something I have come to value more as I got older.  It ingrained in me a sense of shared responsibility that goes beyond guilt -- acknowledging every week that we need Jesus because we have sinned not only reminds us that we all fall short of the mark in following Jesus' example but also that we have a share of the responsibility for reaching the lost and saving ourselves from our own sins.  It is something that I sometimes slip into in my own writing, without even thinking about it -- see the last two posts for examples.  I believe that we as human beings all have a responsibility to one another that is rooted in our need for Christ.  It's something I'd like to keep foremost in my mind.