 |
| Image source |
Dear God,
As the story of our Church’s sins is told yet again, the headlines and sound bytes are painful for all of us to read and hear- and this is especially true for the survivors, those who have been abused and betrayed. Our wounds are many and deep: touch us gently with your merciful healing and restore the peace and joy of faith in our hearts and minds.
It’s so easy in times
like these to forget the good work, faithfully done by so many, especially our
work in service to the poor. Even in
these difficult days, Lord, keep us faithful to our mission: may our shame not
obscure the light of your presence in the work we do in your name.
We have over 40 young
children and 17 teen and adult volunteers in our Vacation Bible School this
week: I’m so grateful, Lord, for those who continue to find our parish a safe
haven for our youth, a place for them to grow in the knowledge and love of God.
Many have already lost and
many more are now losing trust and confidence in the Church, Lord. Send your Spirit into their hearts (and the
hearts of us all!) with the gifts of endurance and perseverance.
Our Church and its
structures are in dire need of reform and renewal, repair and rebuilding,
renovation and restoration. We need your
Spirit to guide us in letting go anything that is harmful, anything that impedes our mission and
anything not in keeping with your Word and your will.
There are times, Lord, like these, that beg
for wisdom and courage and self-sacrificing leadership: anoint our bishops with
these graces and help them to say what must be said and, especially, to do what
must be done - now.
Help us discover and
understand how this failure in faithfulness took such a hold on your Church,
Lord. Show us all that we must do to ensure that we will not repeat the sins of
our past.
Make us all impatient with
anything that slows or stalls the work that must be done. And give us
patience, Lord, with how slowly change may come even when all that can be done
is underway. Help us understand that the
change and growth we need and want will not be accomplished overnight but only
by greater fidelity to you, day by day, one day at a time, until the end of
time.
Simplify your Church and
its ways, Lord: strip away what is pompous and self-serving, arrogant and
pretentious, haughty and smug; dismantle structures that keep us from the
truth; root out pride and hypocrisy. And
in the place of these fill us with your Spirit’s gifts of wisdom,
understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and awe in your presence.
Our past has yielded a
bitter and spoiled harvest, Lord. In its
place, give us a new crop filled with the fruits of your Spirit: charity,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness,
modesty, self-control and chastity.
As we acknowledge the sins
of others, Lord, help us to confess our own sins, especially the times when we
have been unfaithful to you, to your Word, to your Church and to one another.
Deliver us, Lord, from
every evil and grant us peace in our own day.
In your mercy keep us free from sin and safe from all distress as we
wait in joyful hope until you come again, you who are our joy and our hope, now
and forever.
Amen.
-->Amen.
Tweet
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please THINK before you write
and PRAY before you think!