O Great God,

               Keeper of souls, and of heaven and earth,

               You are the same yesterday, today, and forever.

               You redeem; you make things new.

               You take broken things and make beauty from them.

               You break what is proud and heal what is lifeless.

Mighty Lord, I am tired of hearing stories of people leaving the Church. I’m sick, made sick, from hearing story after story with the common denominator of abuse, neglect, or false teachers within the Church. Sadly, I have no sense of surprise. Instead, the impact feels like tearing open a wound again.

The trouble is, I don’t know if the wound is just a superficial hit to my bubble of comfort that I’ve successfully ignored for a time, or if it’s true brokenness.

I felt peace about staying, even when I didn’t want to. I had no good reasons on paper – in truth, I made a list of reasons to leave – but I stayed. Others have stayed, too; it’s not just me. But it’s getting awfully lonely and disturbingly comfortable at the same time: lonely, to see the amount of people leaving; comfortable, because we carry on with business as usual, without counting the cost.

We pray the same prayers and use the same language and cater to people without making adjustments for need or calling sin what it is…

You tell us not to fear, but I fear where we will end up if we continue this way.

You are the same yesterday, today, and forever.

We are not.

So why are we scared to acknowledge that we should do things differently? Why can’t we allow our hearts to soften and morph under Your touch? Why do we resist rebuke and correction, repentance, the 180-degree turn that will make us more like you?

You get to stay the same, and by Your grace, we shouldn’t.

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.”[1]

Your Spirit is the force that helps us move from muck to glory, but first, our stubborn hearts need to break open and become soft before You.

By Your power, the change in our hearts is just the beginning. Upon having our hearts broken, can we get to a place where we are willing to break our front doors, our social media posts, our wallets, our routines, our itineraries, our expectations, to bless other people? And whether or not we are willing, can we actually do those things?

Without Your Spirit and Your grace, the answer is no, so we ask for You. Your presence is Your gift, for us to know and love you more. We do not deserve You, O Lord; please don’t let us act like we do.

I pray not as one who has done these things well, but as one who wants to want to, and then wants to act. I close my door and my calendar too quickly. I don’t ask the follow-up questions when I don’t want to invest because it’s also wrong to fake it, right?

(I feel so dirty reading that last line. It’s too easy to tap out of the confession I know I need.)

Of course, when I think that I’ll have compassion on my own, I tend to run out more quickly.

I’m sorry, Lord.

My Lord and my God, give us broken and contrite hearts, without rose-colored glasses.

We pray that those who complain without plans to repent, learn, correct, teach, and restore will find themselves unwelcome here. As we find the wolves that undermine and feel tempted to judge them ourselves, remind us that we have the same tendencies, if we aren’t humble and careful. Let us trust you to deal with them after we confront them.

We pray that we will open ourselves as safe places to land, for those who are falling- but only after we’ve done the work to become safe people.

Let us see our sin. Without clear vision, Your grace appears cheaper, and the plank in our eye grows larger.

Once we see our sin, give us humble hearts to confess and turn from it. Make us hungry for Your ways, which lead to life.

As we turn away from sin and toward new life, help us notice that the way You’ve prepared is lined with more people who need Your life, abundant life.

And when we notice, please, for the sake of Your name and the good of humanity, let us welcome these people and teach them how to walk Your path, and then walk with them, instead of turn them away.

To You, O God, Maker of heaven and earth and every human heart, be all power, glory, and worship, from Your people and through Your people rather than in spite of us, both now and forever.

In Jesus we pray,

Amen

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” – Matthew 3:2

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[1] 1 Corinthians 15:10. All verses quoted from the NIV translation.