A Prayer for American Christians

Father, pity your Christian children in America.
Have mercy upon us when don’t do your will.
Have sympathy when we don’t do what you tell us to do.
Do not punish us; be lavish with the gift of your Spirit.

We are not Christians because we are better than others.
We are Christians because you moved in our lives.
We are not virtuous because we were born virtuous.
Our virtue is a gift of your Spirit.

You teach us virtue.
You teach us, by Paul, that we must not boast.
You teach us, by Jesus, that we serve you when we serve the weak.
You teach us, by Jesus, to love our neighbors as ourselves.

But we don’t love our neighbors as ourselves.
We may despise our neighbors, as if we could judge them.
We treat our Muslim neighbors badly.
We stop their architecture of worship.

Lord, I trust that you cherish our Muslim neighbors.
You are the Maker; you made us all.
An artist loves his art, and you love the work of you hand.
And Ishmael, like Isaac, was made by you.

Lord, precept by precept, day by day, etch your Word upon our hearts.
By your spirit, put your image upon our souls.
Teach us to love what you love, cherish what you cherish.
Teach us to cherish our Muslim neighbors as you cherish them.

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. [Isaiah 64:6.]

Have pity, Lord. Remember that we are leaves in the wind.

In Jesus’s name, Amen.