This formed the basis of a great discussion with Feig on Thursday, where we talked about Church, what we loved and found frustrating. To finish we prayed this pray. I can’t really say that I ‘wrote’ it, but rather used some reflections from Henri Nouwen’s ‘Bread for the Journey’ to put it together. Nouwen is a spiritual writer full of grace, truth and compassion, who encourages us to love the Church because the reality is that it is made up of broken people like you and me on a journey into freedom:
A prayer inspired by ‘Bread for the journey’ by Henri Nouwen
The Church is the people of God.
The people of God who remember what has been,
look to the future and live for today.
We are the body of Christ, travelling together, looking for signs of God’s reality
Celebrating when we see this, longing, hoping and praying for more.
We are both holy and sinful, spotless and tainted.
We are tempted by the powers of lust and greed
And yet we are seen us as holy and faultless.
Lord help us believe in the Church the way you do
Help us see the Church with your eyes of compassion.
Help it be a place where God becomes God-with-us.
May we be that unlikely of places that reveals God’s love to the world.
May we be a place of mystery and abundant grace.
Forgive us for the mistakes, the judging, the anger, the division.
Where we’ve become more like the religious leaders,
And less like Jesus.
May we instead be a garden of grace amidst the brokenness in the world
Help us to love all of God’s people, whether powerful or powerless,
Conservative or progressive, tolerant or fanatic
When we’ve been hurt by the church, its structures, its leaders
Help us to forgive, remembering that it is full of broken people
Who are on a journey towards freedom and healing.
May we be able to say, ‘I love the Church and belong to it.’
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