Barneyisfat

And I’m sorry, too.

Some days it's hard to belong to a church that looks so little like Jesus.

When United Methodist read the liturgy before communion, we use a collective prayer of repentance. We pray:

“Merciful God,
We confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart.
We have failed to be an obedient church.
We have not done your will,
We have broken your law,
We have rebelled against your love,
We have not loved our neighbors,
And we have not heard the cry of the needy.
Forgive us we pray.
Free us for joyful obedience, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

I wish that every church could read and live by those words each week.

Philippians 2:5-11 reads,
"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

When we depict the crucifixion scene, Jesus is drawn in the center of two criminals high on the hill. His cross is larger than the other two and it is usually shiny. This much we take for granted. Of course Jesus' cross would be shiny - He is God.

... but he made himself nothing ...

He failed to hold tight to his equality with God, and chose instead to find equality with sinners. With us. With pedophiles and gossips.

I'm so quick to get on my high horse. "I'm going to be a missionary." I tell people. I grasp for my equality with God and fail to hold tight to my equality with sinners.

And so does the rest of the church. We as one body, fail to hold tight to our equality with those most affected by Prop 8. We have failed to be an obedient church. We have not done your will.

Merciful Heavenly Father, forgive me for failing to love my neighbor. For fearing the sins of others more than your anger and sadness over my own sins. Forgive me for failing to reach out to those who need your peace this day - who need to know that the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes is still relevant and is still the King. Forgive me and my damn high horse. Help me off of it. Help me to learn to humble myself - even when it hurts - so that I may truly love others more than myself.

Amen.