Sunday Morning Prayer — 7/27/2014

Sunday Morning Prayer – Based on Matthew 22:34-46
(A Prayer of Confession)

Good and gracious God,

We sometimes struggle
to love the way we should.
We sometimes allow
our relationships to become

distorted,
exploitative,
even destructive.
We gossip and slander,
we belittle and bully –
at times,
we even find ourselves
wanting vengeance.

Remind us that these things,
that way of being,
points to a systemic problem.
That way of being
comes into our lives
through systems of
power,
privilege,
greed,
and
other measures of
earthly success.

Help us see
through our
limited vision.
May we recognize
that our pursuit
of these earthly “successes,”
our desire to live life
how we want to,
frequently causes
others in our world
to suffer.

May we move away
from distorting and destroying
relationships
with our friends,
our family,
and our faith community.

Continue to call us
to a more loving way.
May we clothe ourselves
in compassion
and reach out to those in need
and strive to understand
their struggles and difficulties.

Continue to call us
to a more loving way.

May we move toward
nurturing and valuing
relationships
by practicing the greatest commandment:
to love God and to love others.

May we hear and respond
to your call
to a more loving world
and may we be
ever more mindful
of practicing that love
with each person
we meet.

Amen.

Help create a market for Progressive Christianity. Not through big publishers or big denominations, but through the grassroots. Consider supporting Mark’s blogging. We need to encourage the growth of progressive Christian voices in the marketplace. Even a dollar will help.

Facebook continues to make it increasingly difficult for me to let you know about new blog posts like this. Please consider signing up for my mailing list where we can insure you are notified.  Just click here!

Mark is a co-founder of The Christian Left. Come and join the conversation!