“In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you…” 1 Cor. 11:17-18
Dear Lord Jesus, as your people, you couldn’t give us a more humbling indictment: “Your meetings do more harm than good.” Wherever we gather in your name—in a house church or a big cathedral, at a denominational gathering or a summer Bible conference, with a few friends at Starbucks or as a fellowship of the “de-churched”—forgive us for turning wine of the Gospel back into the water of religion.
Forgive us for being more preoccupied with our fly-weight agendas than the weightier matters of the law—”justice, mercy, and faithfulness” (Matt. 23:23). Forgive us for being better at guarding the status quo than preserving the unity of the Spirit (Eph. 4:3). Forgive us when we have more heated arguments than fresh conversions—more long debates about liturgy than time spent on our faces in prayer and worship.
Forgive us for giving non-believers and our kids way too many excuses for dismissing you and the Gospel. Forgive us for fulfilling more stereotypes than hearts—for making your church more like an ingrown club than a welcoming community—more a walled city for critics than a magnetic city of mercy.
Forgive us for being more known for self-righteousness than Gospel-heartedness—more concerned with guarding old ways being aglow with “first love.” Forgive us for being more spitting-mad at other believers than heartbroken over those entering a Christ-less eternity.
Humble us. Break us. Melt us. Mold us. Fill us, Jesus. The time has come for us to have done with lesser things, small dreams, and our graceless ways. Please bring revival. So Very Amen.