A General Conference Prayer

Downtown Tampa, Florida. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The 2012 United Methodist General Conference continues in Tampa, Florida. The debate has heated up — and we still have a long way to go.

In the heat of the moment, there have already been celebrations in the face of pain, disregard of sacred worth, and evil words rationalized by zeal. Please let this be your prayer for our denomination’s leaders gathered in Tampa.

God of us all, bless our Church with understanding.

Our hearts are heavy with the pain of having broken trust and faith in the name of being right.

Cover us once again with the spirit of your Son, so that we might remember what it feels like to be loved in spite of our flaws.

And then, return us to the work of your kingdom, unwilling to sacrifice one another upon the altar of our own self-righteousness.

Forgive us for our zeal. Temper it with love.

Forgive us our contempt. Eliminate it from us and replace it with compassion.

Forgive us our hatred. We have justified it with righteousness that comes not from you, but from our own misguided attempts to take your place and inflict upon the people around us our own understanding of justice.

Free us to an obedient Church, joy-filled and energized for ministry.

In Christ and because of Christ we ask it, Amen.