Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

James 5:16

Dear God, community is so important. I confess that going to church is not one of my favorite things. In fact, I don’t enjoy it much at all. But I need it. I need it for the teaching. I need it for the worship. I need it for the scripture. I need it for the service opportunities. And I need it for the community. I need to be sitting with others, develop relationships, and allow you to use some of those relationships to sharpen me. I also need to be there and intentionally available to that person who walks in and needs you.

Too many of us (including me) miss some of these aspects. We might show up, but we don’t allow the teaching or worship to penetrate our hearts. We don’t contemplate the scripture. We don’t look for ways to love others. We don’t seek out legitimate community. In essence, we don’t use church as a way to love you with all we have and live our neighbor as ourself. And we don’t let down our own walls enough to confess our sins to each other and pray for each other.

Father, as this is. Sunday morning, help me to use church for the community that it is meant to be. Give me the teaching I need. Help me to take a worshipful heart in and make it willing to be vulnerable and to reach out to others. Ultimately, be glorified through me so that I might grow closer to you and being the man you want me to be, and so that others might be drawn closer to you too.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen