Almighty God,
You created us that we might live in you.
You rescued us from sin and death,
And made us alive with Christ,
Joined to him as our head
And to one another as his body.
Yet we move through the world as if we were alone,
Forgetting that we are joined to Christ,
That our life is found in him.
Thinking that we can know and love the Lord
Apart from the fellowship of the Church.
And so our schedules and anxieties swirl around our own
Self-evaluation and opportunities
Instead of your call to the Church.
When we do gather with your people,
We do not bear with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Instead we interact with each other out of fear.
We allow differences in personality or age,
Culture or education, to obscure the unity of the Spirit.
We fail to believe that you have given gifts to everyone to build up your Church.
So we envy the talents of others.
We deny your generosity toward us,
Focused on self-doubt rather than grateful service.
And so we fail to see your goodness to the least among us,
Accustomed to division
And immaturity in your Church,
Instead of seeking to grow up in your love.
Forgive us, Lord, for sins that divide us
From one another
And from you.
Grow us up into the knowledge of your Son
And in submission to him.
Amen.
(Erin S. Lane, Lessons in Belonging, IVP, 2016, p167-8)
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