Prayer

Being church is messy most of the time....if you don't think so, try really being the part of the body you're supposed to be and functioning next to other parts...takes practice and lots of growing pains.

Below is a prayer I wrote for our church's offertory prayer...

God woke me up with it in the middle of the night again...don't know why God seems to send me these things at the strangest hours, but I'll take them.  :)

God,

We come now to a time of offering, a time of giving.
In this time, take us beyond these offering plates that we pass to a place of honest reflection.
We know that it is in giving
That we receive.

God, I confess today
That sometimes I enter these doors
with a hardened heart;
I confess that when I exit these doors,
Somtimes I gift the world with hatred, with judgement,
with my own selfishness.

God, I am guilty of trying to love you
Without loving my brothers and sisters.
You tell us in your Word
That that kind of love is impossible.
That if we truly love you, we will love others.

We are a body of believers walking around on crutches
Because we have been wrestling with you
Over your dreams for us.

God, show us how to offer ourselves today
To be the people you would have us be.
Show us what we hold in our hearts and hands
That can either be detrmental or beneficial
To those outside these doors.
 
You have given so freely to us.
Help us to gift the world
With you in us.
That every valley of a situation will be lifted.
That every selfish thought of pride be made low.
That the rough plans we have made be made straight.
And that hte glory of the Lord, your glory, shall be revealed
That we all may see it together.
Amen.