God,

Be with us as we have difficult conversations regarding our deconstruction.
As we share our hearts,
Our faith or lack of it,
Our hurts and our doubts.

For many of us,
We have not yet had some of those discussions
With family,
With friends,
With those who we are closest with.

It is hard to know what will come of those discussions.
We are often in such different places
Than those we spend much of our time with
And it can be intimidating and scary
To contemplate and deal with the responses.

We worry about a judgmental response
A dismissive response,
A condemning response,
And those are the same types of attitudes
We have seen from the church,
From faith leaders,
To our questions and concerns.

We are thankful for this deconstruction community,
For the open dialogue and freedom we share
Born out of our shared experiences,
Our shared journeys,
Our kinship and openness.

Remind us, however,
That we are not really free
If we are unable to be open,
Honest,
Authentic
With all who are part of our lives.

So help us with these difficult conversations,
Give us the right opportunities
Open minds and hearts to hear and understand,
To Accept and welcome.
And if those conversations don’t go well,
Protect us from negative pushback,
Release us from guilt,
And Surround us with peace.

Amen.