We often use the Bible as a weapon, our creeds as a litmus test and our practices as a crown of accomplishment. Oh, God. We confess to you our sins!
Help us to hold tenderly and lovingly the legacy of words and understandings we have received from those who have gone before us. Give us courage to imagine our own, not just those words that might animate our community of faith, but also the words that spring from our own hearts, the words that give witness to God at work in our own lives and the lives of those we love. Don’t let us get lazy! Keep our eyes and ears and hands alive and sensing you—now, in our time and place. Give us courage to speak of it to ourselves and to each other, and courage to hear the words of others in faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This message is an excerpt from “Amen: Believing and belonging” by Catherine Malotky in the September 2017 issue of Gather magazine.
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