Prayers of the Church, 8.4.13

God of life, from whom all creation flows, we acknowledge you as our creator, our Father, as the one true God.  We marvel at your greatness.  We are amazed at all the riches, all the gifts, all the blessings you have bestowed upon us.  You, O Lord, are a great and wondrous God. 

Knowing all of this, believing it in our hearts, we still act counter to your desires.  We do evil even when we recognize it as such and sometimes seem unable to stop ourselves.  Sometimes it’s worse because we are unwilling to stop our evil actions.  We are vile and petty, we are hateful and deceitful.  We lie, we cheat, we steal…we disappoint you. 

As you spoke in your Word, you were through with us, you were ready to destroy us.  We had rebelled one too many times.  It was over.  Yet, you did not completely give up on us.  With Noah you started again.  With Jesus Christ you started again.  You declared you anger, yet your love was just too great to let us go.  Praise be to you O Lord for sticking with us, for saving a people who so many times clearly deserved to be destroyed. 

We have been redeemed, evil as we are, much as we displease you…we have been set free through the blood of the Lamb – He was guilty of nothing, yet he bore all of our guilt.  He was blameless before you, O God, yet you let the weight of our sins crush him on that cross.  He made us clean. 

How do we respond?  How do we act?  What do we do?  We fall on our knees and praise your name for such boundless love; we work to strengthen the body of believers, to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters around us; we strive to like our savior, humbly sharing your love to those in need in so many ways.

You never gave up on us, you will never give up on us.  Help us never give up on our efforts to live lives that are pleasing to you.  Help us make friends of enemies, turn hate into love, and lift up those around us who are separated from your love.  Let the truth of the Gospel literally shine through us.

Thank you, loving God, for your merciful and endless love.

Now we turn our minds another way and bring before you a mission that we believe embodies what you hold dear, Father.  We ask your special blessing on Family Promise, the IHN Grandview has partnered with for many years.  We ask your continued blessing on them as they work to help challenged families stay together while they get back on their feet and move forward positively.

Thank you that you allow us to serve in your name.

Thank you that you allow us to approach you in prayer, and we do that now, reciting the prayer that our savior, Jesus Christ taught us: