Prayers of the Church, 9.28.14

Loving God, as we worship today, we are grateful for the opportunity to do so.  We are grateful for our Christian family, our brothers and sisters with whom we serve.  Thank you for providing us with such a wonderful, loving community in which to live and serve.

We bow before you now, ready to hear your call once again.

We know the greatest commandment, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

We hear your holy scriptures.  We hear the voice of the Savior as he calls those to follow Him, as he calls US to follow him.  In our strongest voices, we reply, “we will, Lord Jesus!” but much too often we add the words “but first…”

But first, let us get our children through school

But first, let us pay off our debts,

But first let us secure our futures

But first let US take care of ourselves

But first, let us live our lives as WE WILL them

…even as you call us

You call us to feed your sheep, to minister to the sick, the distraught, the dying

You call us to bring back the lost, to share the Good News to the far reaches of the world

You call us to glorify you.

Lord God, strike the words, “But first” from our hearts, our souls, our minds.  Teach us what it means to truly be Your disciples, not just people who want to please You once it fits into our schedules, but as people whose faith allows us to follow You with abandon, knowing You will provide for us.

Help us free ourselves from the love of our comfortable, easy lives…even if we don’t always see them as comfortable or easy.  Help us internalize the knowledge that there is no other first, but following you.

In the silence, Father, speak to us…allow us to know, by faith that you prepare us for the work ahead of us.

Thank you, gracious God, for the Son of Man, divine, but made human, whose sacrifice reunited us with you. 

We now specifically ask your blessings on Emmanuel Christian Seminary, on the faculty and the staff.  Give them strength, wisdom, and peace as they work to prepare men and women for a lifetime of effective ministry.  We ask your blessings on Emmanuel’s students as they seek to learn and prepare while discerning the path You set before them.  Help all those associated with Emmanuel see your hand as it touches the seminary and guides it through a sea of change.

And now, we pray as Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, the Son of God, taught us to pray:

Prayers of the Church, 3.2.14

Great and wondrous God, we are grateful to be in your presence.  We come before you now, worshiping and praising your name, singing, sharing, and loving as you have called us to do.  

We marvel at your great love, a love that is so pure that we cannot fully comprehend it as much as we try.  At the same time that we acknowledge your greatness, your majesty, Father, we are often darkened in our understanding, alienated from you because of our hard hearts and our ignorance.  We have become greedy, insensitive, and have embraced recklessness and immorality.  This is not the message of Jesus Christ.  This is not how we were taught. This is not your agenda, Father.  This is not your truth. We know from the Gospel, Father, that your word is truth.

Your word is truth, gracious Lord.  Your word teaches us how to worship, how to serve, how we should live our lives of obedience to you.    We know it pleases you when we study your word, your truth, and then use it to remake ourselves as mature followers of the Way.

Your word is truth, Father, evidenced by your limitless patience, your steadfast faithfulness.  We know you shall never forsake us.  In times of stress, help us remember that you are THE constant in our lives.

Sanctify us in the truth, O God.  Clothe us in your truth so when the darkness of evil, when the selfishness of the world closes in on us, we can break free into the light that is your love.

Send us into the church, mature Christians, ready and able to disciple, using your strength and your truth to gird up our brothers and sisters, those both new in the faith and those long-suffering servants who never give up in their efforts to glorify you.   Help us center our lives around you, your people, and your call to share the Good News with the world.

Send us into the world to share your truth, the truth that is in Jesus Christ.  Send us into the world, Father, to share your love, to turn enemy into friend, to be kind to one another, tender-hearted, and forgiving all in your name, all to glorify you.

In the silence, hear our prayers of thanksgiving for this truth, this love.  We also know you welcome our joys and sorrows and we bring them to you now.

Your Truth is in Jesus.  Our truth is in Jesus.  Praise be to you, Lord God almighty.

We now remember one of our own family, Cody Spencer, who is faithfully serving with Globalscope in Spain.  Strengthen him and his team as they work to share your truth with university students who often believe in nothing. 

And now we pray together the prayer that our truth, Jesus Christ taught us: