Sunday Prayer – 8/3/2014

Last updated on: August 3, 2014 at 7:13 am by Mark Sandlin

Sunday Prayer – 8/3/2014 2014-08-03T07:13:50-05:00 Mark Sandlin

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Sunday Prayer – Based on Job (A Prayer of Confession)

Good and gracious God,

We all love you.
Only,
it would seem,
that we don’t love the same you.
The you we love,
is the you we have created.

We love discovering that you
are much like us –
after all we are created in your image,
right?

We love those moments
when when a piece of scripture
confirms the things we long suspected
and gives us divine permission
to hold on to
biases, judgement and even damnation.

Unexpected God,

break into the “realities”
we have created.
Confirm within us
the thing that our spirits
already know –
that you are too big to be contained
in some limited earthly conceptualization.
Invite us to experience
the breadth and depth of you
in a way we have never felt secure
in exploring before.
Direct us toward a faith
that is not dependent upon certainty –
a faith that is fascinated with
the questions –
a faith that gains energy and strength
in a uncertainty
that points to the existence
of something bigger
than we
could ever fully understand.

May we find humility
in that knowledge.

May it gut our overstated piousness
to its core
and created in us
a God-shaped space
that seeks out
only the reality
of you –

a reality
founded in,
nurtured by,
reliant upon,
enlivened with

love.

Teach us to make love
our default position.
And in that God-shaped space,
may we find
an unending desire
to envelope the world
and all the people in it
with a grace and love
that it has never known before.

Amen.

Help create a market for Progressive Christianity. Not through big publishers or big denominations, but through the grassroots. Consider supporting Mark’s blogging. We need to encourage the growth of progressive Christian voices in the marketplace. Even a dollar will help.

Facebook continues to make it increasingly difficult for me to let you know about new blog posts like this. Please consider signing up for my mailing list where we can insure you are notified. Just click here!

Mark is a co-founder of The Christian Left. Come and join the conversation!

Previous Post

July 31, 2014

Pope Being Poo-pooed By GOP For Being Too Much Like Jesus

Next Post

August 8, 2014 10 Life Lessons From “Guardians of the Galaxy”

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Advent Afterlife agnostic America atheist Bible bourbon Brad Pitt Brokeness Christianity Christmas Church Civil Rights Confessions Congress Conservative Christianity Crucifixion Easter election Elections Equality Facebook Feminism Ferguson Fiction Following Jesus Foodie Gamers God GOP Gospels Gun Control Health Care Hell Heretic Heritic Holy Week Humanism immigration Inclusiveness Innovation Institutionalized Church Intellectualism Islam Jesus Job Justice Lectionary LGBT Life Love Matthew 11 Minister MLK Mother's Day Movie Review Movies Music Nones Obama peace Political Pope Francis Poverty Prayer Prison Progressive Christianity Prophetic Question Mark refugee Resistance sex shooting Sin Spirit Thanksgiving The 10% The Christian Left The Walking Dead Theology Trinity Trump Uncategorized unChristian Unemployment United States violence voting war Women's rights workers rights

Select a Month January 2017 July 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 October 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz