Praying after the Supreme Court’s decision on same-sex marriage

In Trinity CRC’s morning prayers yesterday, I prayed about the decision made by the Supreme Court of the United States that makes same-sex marriages legal in all 50 states. This is how it went…

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Lord, you know how we believe that same-sex marriage “is incompatible with obedience to [Your] will … as revealed in Scripture.” It seems we have failed at convincing our culture that your design for marriage is best. In light of the Supreme Court’s decision this week, some of us are tempted to go off and sulk in our holy corner. Or to dig in our heels and fight harder. Or to lash out in anger. Or to despair. Help us do better.

Help us focus on You, convinced that Your Kingdom will come in fullness and that there remains much vital work for Your church to do in society until that day.

Help us repent for refusing to give “loving support and encouragement” to persons with same‑sex attraction. Forgive us for when our homophobia repelled people away from the Gospel. Forgive us for our hypocrisy – when we passionately try to root out sexual sins while remaining relatively indifferent to racism, gluttony, selfishness, and other sins.

Help us reach out to the gay community. Maybe now that they see the church as having lost on the issue of same-sex marriage, they won’t consider us as much of a threat and might be willing to build relationships with us. Give us the grace to welcome and even initiate those moments as opportunities to share the good and beautiful news of the Gospel like never before.

Acknowledgements:
This prayer is adapted from Mark Galli’s article at Christianity Today. Parts in “quotations marks” are from the Christian Reformed Church in North America’s position statement on homosexuality. I also found Steven Koster’s post at ThinkChristian helpful in reflecting on all this.
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