Look, we beseech thee, O Lord, upon the people of this land who are called after thy holy name, that they may ever walk worthy of their Christian profession. Grant unto us all that, laying aside our divisions, we may be united in heart and mind to bear the burdens which are laid upon us, and be enabled by patient continuance in well-doing to glorify thy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen. Thanks for posting this Kendall.
In prepping some posts for Lent & Beyond in the next few days, I came across a prayer by Scotty Smith of Christ Community Church in Nashville which prays for Christ’s mercies and healing in our broken and divided relationships in the Body of Christ:
An Excerpt:
[blockquote]… Come, Holy Spirit, come. Grant us godly sorrow and deep repentance for the ways we hide the beauty of Jesus in our churches through our pettiness and selfishness, our divisiveness and cowardice; our wagging tongues and our walking feet. […]
Forgive us, Jesus. You’ve made it clear that the world will know we are your disciples by the way we love one another. You’ve also made it clear that the quality of our relationships is one of the ways the world will believe that our Father sent you to be the Savior of the world (John 17:20-23). How sobering…
Bring the power of the gospel to bear upon our shared and broken life in the body of Christ. Grace doesn’t free us to love poorly, but to love generously, extravagantly, in keeping with how Jesus loves us. … [/blockquote]
here’s the link:
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/scottysmith/2012/04/20/a-prayer-for-relational-messes-and-gods-mercies/
It’s in the queue for later this week at L&B.