The Church of England’s bishops are about to ‘propose that “prayers of dedication, thanksgiving or
for God’s blessing” are offered to same-sex couples following their
civil marriages.’[1] This is considered the middle of the road
option between opposing any version of same-sex unions on Biblical and
historically Christian grounds, on the one hand, and advocating for such
unions, including so-called ‘same-sex marriage,’ on the other. Some bishops have already voiced their
support of this innovation and affirmation of what Christians have always
called ‘sin.’[2]
On one point, I would agree: we need prayer
at this time; indeed, corporate, reflective, prayers either for blessing new
ministries or for forgiveness as a diminished remnant remains with a wayward
denomination. I would applaud the suggestion
to write prayers appropriate to the times that are sincere and Biblical. To pray blessings on sinners and give thanks
for sin, however, is blasphemous.
We need different prayers. First, however, we need to be aware that God’s
people do not pray for anyone and everyone.
This point is made in Jeremiah 5.16, where God tells the prophet not to
pray for those making idols. Again, in
11.11 and 14, God repeats that He would not listen to any prayers for this
sinful people. In 1 John 5.16-17, John
distinguishes prayer for those committing sins not leading to death and for
those committing sins leading to death.
He says, ‘All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to
death.’ One should not pray for people
whose sin leads to death (v. 16). John
is consistent with Jeremiah: some people’s sin devotes them to destruction, and
we are wrong to pray that God would forgive them as they continue in their sin. This is the same as asking God to bless them
despite their sin, and it is another step further from Godly prayer to ask God
to bless them in their sin. In John’s
epistle, one of the errors of those not continuing with the believing community
(1 John 2.19) is that they claim to have no sin, no need for confession of sin, and
therefore no need for Jesus’ death on the cross for sin (1.8-10). The Church of England is shepherded by too many persons in this heretical camp. From
Paul, we know that homosexuality is a sin that excludes a person from the
kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6.9, 10).
Those wanting their sinful life in sexual debauchery, including adultery, homosexuality, and invented, non-binary identities and practices, to be blessed by God are wrongfully praying for God to bless
sin and include in His kingdom unrepentant sinners.
Another sort of prayer is one for God’s
blessing over those who have left the Church of England and are part of a new ‘building
project.’ As God-fearing Christians
leave the Church of England to begin a new fellowship of churches under the
authority of God’s Word and in continuity with the orthodox Church of the
centuries, prayer is the appropriate beginning for this work. Such a prayer would be in the tradition of
King David’s prayer when God establishes a covenant with him. This lengthy prayer is a prayer for God to
bless what is a new venture (2 Samuel 7). Similarly, David’s son, King Solomon, offered a solemn prayer for God’s blessing
over the completed temple building (1 Kings 8; 2 Chronicles 6). The prayer was that this house would be a place where people might find forgiveness for their sins, not a blessing of them.
A third kind of prayer, a prayer of repentance, is for those who
plan to continue within the Church of England.
Such a prayer would be for any Protestant denomination, formerly
Christian, that, as an institution, has turned away from God and has embraced
heresies but still has Christians within its fellowship. For such people, the prayer that is needed
would be in the tradition of Nehemiah 9 and Daniel 9 (cf. Tobit 13). These prayers were prayed by the righteous within their sinful community of
Israel. Note, however, they are prayers
to be prayed after God sends the
people into exile for their sins. They
are premature prayers when people still embrace their sins and do not
acknowledge God’s judgement upon them.
Once this point is reached, however, they are appropriately long, ‘teaching’
prayers that have weighty words and space for reflecting on truth. They involve heartfelt confession of sin,
contrition, and an appeal for forgiveness.
The following prayer might be an
example of this third kind of prayer. It
would be appropriate for Evangelicals remaining with the Church of England at
this time. It goes further than the
prayers of Nehemiah and Daniel, especially in light of Christian teaching that
God has already brought His salvation, reconciliation, and empowerment in
Christ Jesus, and so we ask for consecration, transformation, and holiness. I might add that the Lord’s Prayer is a much
shorter example of this sort of prayer.
One might imagine oneself in exile for sin praying the Lord’s Prayer—the
very context for Jesus’ ministry preparing sinful but repentant people for the
nearness of God’s Kingdom.
A Prayer for Forgiveness, Consecration, Transformation, and Holiness[3]
Oh, God, You alone are Lord. You made the world and established the ways
in which we should walk. You have been
faithful in Your covenant with us. You
alone are righteous and just, holy and loving.
You have called us from the ways of this world and to renounce sin, the
world, and the devil. You have opened a
way of repentance and forgiveness through Jesus Christ, our Lord. You have given to us Your Holy Spirit to
cleanse and empower us to live righteously and wholly for You.
Yet we have sinned. Many are the examples of those who have in centuries past acted presumptuously and stiffened their necks and not obeyed Your commandments. Now we find in our day that we are no different, heirs to their wandering ways and rejection of You. If You were not a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, we would have been left forsaken long ago, for You are holy and cannot abide sin.
Yet You restore sinners, not simply by forgiveness but also by pouring out Your Holy Spirit upon us. You transform our ways through an inward change of heart and instruct us. May we be so changed as to desire with a great yearning Your goodness and righteousness.
Yet, now we stand as people who have rejected instruction and
determined to define good and evil for ourselves. Children of Adam and Eve, we would be our own gods. Inwardly disordered, we would make the world in our own image. Our arrogance knows no limits. We have shaken our first at the heavens.
Yet You have graciously sent Your
servants to teach us Your Holy Word. We
know Your mercy full well, for we, though sinful and undeserving, have received
grace upon grace. Then we turned this grace into a license to sin more boldly. We have made the Gospel of Grace a Gospel of Welcome to sin. We have disobeyed
Your commandments; we have sinned against Your rules, as though Your grace knows no boundaries and as though our love is a rejection of Your commandments. We have not borne Your name or hallowed it
but have defamed it among the peoples of the earth. We have also sinned against others and
against ourselves.
False teachers have wormed their way into our seminaries, churches, and households, and we have listened to their revisions of Your Word so that we might not stand out as light on a hill at night or be the salt of the earth. Instead, we have lived by the darkness of the world, wanting to fit in and be accepted by those who live contrary to Your will. We have asked not to be taken out of the world so that we could enjoy the evil within it. Claiming to be wise, we have become fools under the care of false shepherds leading us astray. We have doubted and disputed the plain teaching of Your Word, rejecting it as outdated in our glamourous new age. We have long dwelt in Sodom, unwilling to leave, arguing that light and darkness should walk together for the sake of unity.
Help us, O Lord, to flee this place and not look back with lingering desire for what displeases You. Like Elijah, may we agonise
over so few remaining righteous. Too
many of us were mesmerised, staring into the fires of delusion and denying the
plain teaching of Holy Scripture and the obvious truths in the laws of Your creation.
Instead of repenting for our
sins, we celebrated them and gave approval to the sins of others.
Now we have even asked You to bless us in our sinfulness. We have called evil good and good evil, put
darkness for light and light for darkness, insisted that bitter is sweet
and sweet is bitter, and dragged along iniquity where ever we go with the cords of falsehood. We have called men women and women men, so far have we strained from Your good creation of man and woman. We have blessed
same-sex, carnal unions. We have pretended
that gender is a choice and that the freedom to choose stands above Your righteousness
and truth. We have mutilated children
and ourselves to try to look like the opposite sex even though every cell in
our body bears the indelible print of our God-given sexuality and proclaims the wonder of Your creation. We have entertained the impossibility that
marriage could be other than between a man and a woman. We have forbidden the pastoral care that
helps people overcome besetting sin. Some
false prophets and priests have arisen among us, just as You warned, and many, thinking themselves to be wise, have followed after sensuality so that they might indulge their defiling
passions.
Oh, Lord, save us from ourselves, from the depravity of our minds. Help us no longer to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Then will we know Your will. Then we will recognise what is good and acceptable and perfect. Yes, Lord, redeem us from the internal disorder of our desires, from living against nature, and from celebrating sin. Consecrate us to Yourself that we might be set aside for purity and holiness. May we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to You. May our spiritual sacrifice be made holy and acceptable to You, O God, and no longer an abomination. Truly, all our righteousness is as filthy garments. Sanctify our bodies, purify our hearts, Oh Lord.
Did Jesus not say that our
righteousness must exceed that of those who live only by outward show and do
not seek the perfection of God in having a righteousness from the heart? Did Paul not teach that, though we were beset
with sin and slaves to unrighteousness, we have become obedient from the heart
to the teaching to which we have been committed? So, gracious Father, set us free from sin,
impurity, and opposition to Your law that we might become slaves of
righteousness leading to sanctification.
For, indeed, we affirm that we have been washed, sanctified, and made
righteous in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our
God. Oh, Lord, help us to reclaim the truths
of the Gospel that, by Your grace in Christ Jesus our Saviour, we have been both
forgiven and are being transformed from one degree of glory into another, into
the very image of our Lord.
Yes, Lord, make speed to save us,
make haste to help us. Bring us to a new
place, that the world will not see itself in us but see You in us. Send forth Your light and Your truth; may they
guide us. Let them guide us to Your holy
hill from which righteousness is taught to the nations. Let us dwell secure
before You, washed in the blood of the Lamb from all our sins. May He who became sin and who knew no sin become the righteousness of God in us.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen.
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[1] See
the article by Tim Wyatt, ‘What Now for the Church of England and Gay
Marriage?’ Christianity (19 January, 2023); online at https://www.premierchristianity.com/news-analysis/what-now-for-the-church-of-england-and-gay-marriage/14700.article?mc_cid=274bd1532e&mc_eid=4f0e58959f (accessed
20 January, 2023.) Also see ‘Draft prayers of thanksgiving, dedication and for
God’s blessing for same-sex couples published,’ The Church of England;
online at https://www.churchofengland.org/media-and-news/press-releases/draft-prayers-thanksgiving-didication-and-gods-blessing-same-sex (accessed
21 January, 2023).
[2] See https://anglican.ink/.
[3] A
number of Biblical passages and some wording are in this prayer, as many will
recognise, and it is meant to reflect a Biblical perspective throughout.
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