In the last hours of the darkness of night, we wait with anticipation for the breaking light of the morning.  

 
Gracious and Righteous God, give us courage to face that which you have shown us in the darkness, and help us to repent, turning with haste and moving in a new direction.  
 
But before we go, have we named it all yet?  
 
Is there something else we ought to confess, 
other habits that need to be abandoned, 
and ways of thinking that will not be fruitful in the days ahead?
 
Most simply, forgive us when we prioritize ourselves or any other 
 
job, 
program, 
ideal, 
action, 
person, 
or institution 
over Jesus Christ.  
 
Surely when we uncompromisingly follow Jesus the rest of our words, doctrine, and practices will be made right.  
 
Make us faithful, O Lord.  We believe you can, and we trust that you will.   
 
Turn us toward you.  Show us your deepest desires for the church and this world, give us dreams beyond our out-of-shape imaginations, lead us to a new place of faithfulness as the Church, your Church, the body of Christ—because surely we cannot stay where we are any longer. 
 
We pray this together, in earnest, as your servants in the name of the One who is able to keep us from falling and to make us without blemish.  
 
Amen.   
 
 
 
Molly Simpson is the Campus Pastor of The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection’s West Campus in Olathe, Kansas and has been recommended for Ordination as Elder in Full Connection this June at the Kansas East Annual Conference.  Molly is a Kansas native, and a graduate of Baylor University and Perkins School of Theology.  She loves Texas—because it was there that she met her stellar husband, Ben!