To Remember the Confession | A Prayer

To Remember the Confession | A Prayer

We have grown languid with time and misuse,

and far too accustomed to the language of

“us” and “them.”

Yes, even among those who You insist upon calling “us.”

God, look at us

and at the mess we have made.

We have divided ourselves into crafted clubs,

broken up into polite little affiliations

of visceral self-righteousness.

And we are in need of saving.

Yes, even saving from ourselves

and, perhaps, even especially from ourselves.

Would You

in Your startling way of holiness

lift our eyes from our own limitations,

from our self-imposed boundaries that are

 so preoccupied with labels.

Would You

in Your potent way of long-suffering

reorient us to the creeds of our faith.

may the words of confession undyingly occupy our tongues.

Let us orate with gratitude and long-vision,

keeping close at hand the faith of our fathers …

…and their fathers, and their fathers, and their fathers before.

Would You

in Your grand way of reconciliation

Recall to our feeble minds the reality of a Church Universal.

Fixate in our minds the communities of the confession

that come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and languages.

And bemoan us to remember well

that this creed and catholicity is the reality

of that long-awaited horizon

we have long labeled “Home.”

Beckon us toward that reality, good God of our confession,

and until then bind us together in Your unity,

as we recite with all flesh

the ancient words of faith

confessing the Word that You made flesh.