I am becoming more and more deliberate and focused in my prayer life, and I see others around me becoming so as well. This is a good thing, for which I am very grateful. Today my prayers have focused around the church. I am following my pastor’s lead and praying through parts of Colossians One for our church (I may write about that sometime).

I am also praying a specific prayer even now. That prayer is that the church (I’m thinking about my home church in particular, but this applies to the Church as a whole), my prayer is that the church would be free of the masks that we so easily and readily put on. Christ prayed for the Church to have a unity on par with the unity that the Father and the Son possessed with one another. Such a unity is not possible when we wear masks with each other. And yet it is so natural to put on just such a mask.

I am aware that when I interact with people, I am often actively engaged in a decision making process that asks the question, can a I trust this person enough to be real with them, or must I create a facade designed to give the other person the impression that I know what I am doing and have my life together. I am constantly engaged in second guessing whether I should say certain things or not and whether the person I am engaged with will think poorly of me when he or she discovers that I am just a weird, emotional, worrying, negative thinking, fragile person.

This won’t work! The church just can’t function as a body of ministers of reconciliation if the members therein don’t know each other well enough to be transparent and thus love one another fully. So, I am praying specifically for my home church and others like her that God will move people into each other’s lives. That we will take the risks necessary to be transparent and let God shape us into one large vessel designed for glorious works in His kingdom.

I wonder, what are some ways that you have found that foster transparent relationships in the Church?