A prayer for anyone disillusioned with the Church
Oh, Lord, the Lover of the Church,
I am part of the Bride of Christ, the Church.
And we are seriously messed up right now.
We are scared.
We are searching.
We are scattered.
We are scarred.
We are angry at one another
and divided from one another within the body of Christ.
We are fighting disillusionment about the church, about other Christians, about our world.
Lord, re-ignite my soul.
I want to cling to you
instead of hoping for people to change
or the church to get back to “normal”
instead of hoping for people to change
or the church to get back to “normal”
or the world to get better
or life to get easier.
Surround me with your love and comfort because
it’s tempting to walk away from this big mess.
Surround me with your love and comfort because
it’s tempting to walk away from this big mess.
It’s becoming all too easy to disengage from everything we find
uncomfortable and disconcerting.
Lord, keep me from giving up on your church because of disunity.
It’s tempting to replace church with friend groups, TV church, and partisan network television.
We read books instead of the Bible.
We watch podcasts instead of meeting for prayer.
We believe politicians instead of your words.
We watch podcasts instead of meeting for prayer.
We believe politicians instead of your words.
Help me, Lord! I’m at a serious intersection of faith and experience!
Meet me in this space and spread your love and grace over me
so I do not resent Christians,
who distance themselves from church people.
Help me to forgive those who have gossiped and hurt our mission.
Help me radiate your love and grace every single day
because that’s what you would do, if you were me.
That’s what you do every single minute,
no matter how we behave.
In Jesus’ powerful and worthy name,
Amen.
Amen.
Passages to read about this topic:
