Today we bring to a close the Week of Prayer for the Northern Illinois Conference, but we never quit praying. Continue to add your voice to the chorus of United Methodists Praying for a Way Forward. Our final prayer comes from Elisa Gatz.

Creator God, we come to you with so many needs, wants, and wishes. It is the season where sometimes shopping gets more attention than the birth of a savior. Politics takes over our TVs and discussions, and acts of violence are too numerous to even keep straight. Even our Earth is crying out with natural disasters. In a season of waiting, we feel we are drowning.

We need you, God. We need you in our hearts and minds. We need to be reminded that relationships with people are foremost. You told us that loving one another is our calling, and right now we are desperate to find that path. We want to be the people you desire us to be, and right now we aren’t sure exactly what that looks like. We know you keep telling us, and we know that we don’t always listen without filtering it through our own selfish desires. Grant us clarity so that our church doesn’t get mired in an argument that leaves people on the outside.

Help us find that path we haven’t seen yet, the one that frees us from judgment and conflict and allows us to give our energy to being your heart and hands in this hurting world. We pray for the Commission on the Way Forward and the Council of Bishops that will bring a plan to us. We pray for the General Conference who will make decisions that determine the future of the UMC. We pray for all of us that we may use this moment to listen to your words of hope, love, joy, and peace. And we pray that we all do our part to live as Jesus taught us so that we can continue the work of making disciples that transform the world. We know it is possible through you. Amen.