February 16, 2022
I Confess that I Didn’t Understand: A Prayer
O Lord, I confess that I didn’t understand,
for years and years
I didn’t understand,
didn’t understand
what it meant to
glorify your name;
the phrase
too churchy,
too pious,
too sanctimonious;
the understandings studied
not understood,
the meanings read
not mean anything,
the definitions found
not very defining;
the language
not my language,
not my style,
not my cup of tea;
but now
use the phrase
all the time,
because
it finally makes sense;
because
of all that’s been happening for a good while;
because
of what more than a few
Christians,
churches,
clergy
have been
saying and doing;
because
you have gotten
a really bad name
over the past few years;
because
more than ever we need to
restore your good name,
re-establish your good name,
redeem your good name.
O Lord, that’s what finally
came to me,
dawned on me,
hit me,
that
if we truly
are made in your image,
reflect your image,
bear your image,
then somehow
to look at us is
to see you, and
to listen to us is
to hear you,
see and hear
what you are like,
how you act,
what you say;
and so,
given what
people and politicians,
Christians and churches and clergy
have been saying and doing
you must be
a God who enjoys cruelty,
a God who loves violence,
a God who lies;
a God who goes along with
whatever opinions people hold,
whatever hatreds people harbor,
whatever prejudices people have;
a God who couldn't care less about
truth or
character or
virtue;
a God who only wants to
make us feel really good about ourselves;
a God
who is made
in our image;
that’s
what finally came to me, dawned on me, hit me:
that to
glorify your name
is to do
exactly the opposite
of what
people, Christians, we ourselves
have been doing to your name
for years
(Maybe that’s why churches are declining, I mean, who
would want to be associated with a god who has
such a bad reputation?)
O Lord, we’d like to think that none of this describes us,
but in one way or another
it does;
and so,
forgive us, and
grace us with
the courage
to restore your good name
by being
people of
character, truth, kindness;
people who reflect
your self-forgetting love,
your self-sacrificing love,
your self-giving love,
in our serving of others;
people whose beliefs and opinions and politics are
shaped not by
fear and anger and resentment
but by the
Gospel;
people who realize
that their rightful purpose
as believers, as a church, is to
increase love for you and for the neighbor;
people who magnify your presence
in all they say and do;
in other words,
glorify your name
so that people see and hear and know that
you are good and
your goodness is
our hope and salvation.
And we remember, Lord, those easily forgotten in our
busyness or worry or self-preoccupation:
those battling illness or disease,
those who are hurting,
those who are dying,
those who are grieving,
those struggling emotionally,
and the hungry, the homeless, the refugees.
Heal and comfort and strengthen them.
And move us to
forget ourselves enough to
be there for them.
O Lord, it’s become one of my favorite phrases
because now I understand
it says so well what
Christians, churches, clergy, we all of us
need to do
if holiness and hope are ever to return to us and our land,
and that is
glorify your name!
Amen.
