God of the heart strangely warmed, we take confidence in the future because we know it to be in your hands.  
 
We take confidence that we can hold on because indeed we are held.  
 
As we seek to be faithful ministers of your holy church, make us worthy to assume such a mantle.  
 
Give us the power to stand in the shoes of John.  
 
Though we are men and women of unclean lips we ask that you purify us as you did your prophet Isaiah.  
 
We are unworthy vessels and ask that you make us worthy to pour out your grace upon all those who would drink of it.  We your youngest servants call upon you!  
 
Guide us in our ignorance, being wisdom for us.  Where we encounter a lack of experience let us rely fully on you and that great cloud of witnesses that surround us always.  This we ask in the name of your Son, the perfect revelation of your will and our paramount illustration for faithful ministry. 
 
God you are merciful, and we, your children, ask you to extend your ear over the bulwarks of heaven and incline your ear to hear our cries of repentance.  
 
We have not heard the call of the needy.  We are guilty of the sin of not living lives that embody costly discipleship.  We have allowed our part of the body of Christ, Methodism, to move from a movement to an institution to a monument.  We pray that you would ensure that our monument does not become a mausoleum.  Our sin of inaction must not be allowed to continue.  We beg your Spirit to enable us to return to our roots as a social justice movement.  May we become relevant, may we reach those who have not heard your gospel, and may we see the Kingdom of God grow.
 
We ask that your Spirit guide us to be a movement.  We ask that the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead give us the power to revive what we know to be a sleeping giant, United Methodism.  Let us have a hand in moving the body of Christ from paralysis to action.  Empower us, give us the courage to change the structure of our system so that we can realize real and lasting change.
 
Amen.
 
Chris Henson serves God’s people as an Associate Pastor at Morris Chapel United Methodist Church in Walkertown, North Carolina.  He is married to Summer, and father to their adopted Vietnamese daughter, Sophie.  You can read his blog at http://holyfools.wordpress.com.