Drive Us to the Cross

"Our Lord and our God, you are indeed the source of our life in Christ Jesus. Of what then could we boast? And yet, we seek constantly to lord it over each other. Even in the darkest questions, those in which the information available to us is scant, we assume that we know enough to dismiss those who disagree with us with a curt 'He doesn't get it.' We laugh, we criticize, and we talk about each other in ways that demean, in ways that give evidence of the pathetic attempt to elevate ourselves above all others. Forgive us our sin. And drive us to the cross. For beneath the cross, the ground is completely level. There is no room for boasting unless it be that boasting in the Lord whose power was made complete in weakness. For he alone is worthy of our praise, our veneration, our adoration, and the complete devotion of our hearts and our minds.
It is in his name that we pray. Amen."

(Prayer offered before a lecture by Bruce McCormack, professor of systematic theology at Princeton)