Narcissism
Jill Woodliff
Found at Lent and Beyond

Dear Heavenly Father,

Our church has dishonored You. You saw us flailing in our sin and You said, “Live!” You picked us up, clothed us with the garment of salvation, and covered us in robes of righteousness. You loved us and blessed us.

Yet we turned our eyes from You,the author of our salvation and perfecter of our righteousness. We turned our eyes from You and gazed upon our own reflection. We trusted in our own beauty rather than in You. Transfixed before a mirror, we saw with a metallic reflection of eyes, and our hearts were hardened.

We laid the garment of salvation and robes of righteousness at the feet of a false gospel that does not offend. We embraced half-truths and diluted that which was pure. We abandoned repentance and mixed the profane into the holy. We put down our cross and blinded ourselves to the difference between the unclean and the clean. We ignored the whole counsel of God and became deaf to His judgment. We smoothed the way to hell.

We trusted the devices and desires of our own hearts, and we are like a wall built with untempered mortar, being rent by a stormy wind. We have been brought down to the ground. We are ashamed. We know that You are God and that we have dishonored You.

Have mercy, Lord. Have mercy.

Remember Your covenant from days gone by, days when we delighted in Your word and in the light of Your face. Shine Your face upon us, Lord, and bring healing to our church. Amen.

Isaiah 61:10, Ezekiel 13:10-16, 16:6, 15, 62; 22:26