Unity?

““I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me because of their testimony. My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father--that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me. “I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are-- I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one. Then the world will know that you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me.” John 17:20-23, NLT

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy on me

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy on us

Heal us LORD of our judgmentalism.

Heal us LORD of our egotism.

Heal us LORD—we are a bunch of control freaks.

Heal us LORD—we are more interested in getting our own feet washed, instead of washing another’s person’s feet.

Heal us LORD—we are confused; arrogant and we build our own kingdoms.

Heal us LORD—we are not very interested in laying down our lives for each other.

Heal us LORD—we have confused our local churches with the kingdom of God.

Heal us LORD—we are more concerned with the carpet colour than the sick, the lost, or the forsaken.

Heal us LORD—we are earthly minded.

Heal us LORD—we service our own edifices, our own little piece of the pie, and yet Your word is pretty clear—there is ONE church!

Heal us LORD—lost people get this—they keep asking, ‘What are there so many churches?”

Heal us LORD—we fight, send nasty emails, preach ugly sermons—against the church down the street!   

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy on us

Heal us LORD—we act as though You have slipped off Your throne and asked for us to take over!

Heal us LORD—we pontificate, shoot our mouths off, and we bully people with our words and attitudes.

Heal us LORD—You love the unlovely—we love the rich and influential. 

Heal us LORD—of our sins.

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy on us

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Learning to hate your sin

Image
   John 5:13-15 (NLT) 13 The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. 14 But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” 15 Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him.   Lord give me grace, power, and effort to maintain a resilience against sin.  Sin is ALWAYS a dark path. It ALWAYS pays wages.  The wage of sin is death.  Sin will always hurt, always destroy, always wound—you, relationships, stuff, goals, etc.  It is a killer.  It is a wound-er.  It is a consumer of all that is healthy, strong, good, and perfect. Learn to hate sin. Learn to fear sin. Learn to run as fast as you can away from sin. Search deeply for hidden sin. Be disgusted with your sin.  Repent, repent, repent daily for your sin. Be afraid of your sin. Be petrified of your sin. Be worried about your sin. And keep repenting, keeping running into the arms of grace and the arm
Read more

Dumb Mistakes

Image
      Dumb Mistakes   Why do Christians, pastors, leaders, ushers, —everyday Christians— make real dumb mistakes.  Now I am talking about real dumb moral mistakes—lying, cheating, immorality, thievery—-like why? Christine Pohl warns us as follows: “By compartmentalizing aspects of our actions or thoughts, we are able to ignore major inconsistencies and wrongdoing.” Ever heard yourself asking this question: ‘What was he thinking when he did that?’   You think of moral failure or just plain —dumb decisions—and you ask that question!   How does that happen?  What were they ‘thinking?’  Well, Pohl suggest “he wasn’t thinking he had stopped thinking and reflecting.  Instead, the person deliberately excluded a part of his or her life from spiritual and moral scrutiny.”   So now a word of help!  Do the daily examen!  (See.  https://pwcusick.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-examen.html )   If there ever was a culture, a time, a season when Christians need to act like Christians —it is now!   The ancie
Read more

Duh--What church should I attend?

Image
Part # 3 of three Part Blog: Why go to church? What is the ‘church?’ How to find the right congregation? How to find the right congregation? A congregation is what we normally refer to as a church.  Here is the distinction I am making.   The Church; This is the one described in my previous blog… “what is the church.”  It is the timeless eternal body of believers. A Congregation: This is a local gathering of believers who are part of “The Church”. Think of it this way—-three levels: Level # 1-  THE CHURCH—the mystical eternal union of all believers. Level # 2-   The Church in a town/ city/ area.  Because of level # 1, there is realistically only ONE church in a town, city, etc. Level # 3-  Congregations:  These are various groups of people that meet together for primarily four interactive, communal, things: Word:  Preaching, teaching, sharing Sacrament:  Celebration of the Lord’s Supper (communion/ eucharist) Worship: Music,
Read more