Matthew 10:34–39: Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

O holy God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—our Creator, Sustainer, Ruler, Judge, and Savior: It is a sobering thought that You cause such divisions that a person’s enemies will even be those of his own household. Give us fortitude, we pray, to walk faithfully with You, to confess Christ unhesitatingly, to teach and obey Your laws without compromise, and to preach and teach Your gospel without fear.

And when those divisions come among us, give us grace to reach out across the divides, to confess our own sins before pointing out the sins of others, and to present Christ as the One who can reconcile even the greatest of enemies through His cross. Where disagreements over public policy, or science, or any other issues threaten to divide brothers and sisters in Christ from each other, give us hope and diligence to listen carefully to each other, to consider others better than ourselves, and to bring always the mind of Christ into every controversy—Christ who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. May we know the truth, that the truth might set us free. In Jesus’ name, amen.