Father,
Your glory is seen on the earth. Last week we heard the power and majesty of your voice in the thunder that shook the city and flashed in the sky and shook the trees. We who know you see this; and our spirits are moved to worship because we know that storms are no natural mechanism, but a peek at your glory.
We want all things to praise you, from the heavenly beings who stand in your presence to the creeping things of the earth. We have gathered this morning for this purpose, to consider you, to recount the marvelous things that you have done, to lift up our hearts to you and to sing praise.
Yet outside the church, many are not marveling at you and praising you. Often people count the evil in themselves as evil in you. When you punish people for their wrongdoing, they consider it cruelty and doubt your care for humankind. When the ungodly misrepresent themselves as your servants, people assume that you approve of their sinfulness. When your people who love you fail, people consider that you are powerless to hold them up. When you give people time to repent instead of striking them with lightning, the blasphemer, the adulterer, the violent, the liar, and the covetous, begin to think you don’t really care about those things.
We have walked with you and we know from the scriptures and experience in our lives that none of these things are true. Though every person be a liar, what you do is right and good and true. You are judicious and fair above all others and will settle all disputes on the day of judgment. You are in fact far more than merely fair, because you gave your son so that the guilty who come to you asking for mercy may justly be acquitted.
Lord, we would die without your constant mercy. I would in no way ask for you to treat us more harshly. We thank you constantly for your compassion and protection and lavish blessings. Even the lightest touch of trouble that you sometimes bring into our lives can make us faint and drain our strength.
Nevertheless, defend your reputation in the world. I’m afraid that too many people, when they hear your name, think about pedophile priests, greedy televangelists, and their self-righteous judgemental supposedly Chrisitan neighbor. But you hate those things. You are the father of lights from whom all good things come and there is no darkness in you. Even when the ungodly hear your name, let them think of your mighty works: the creation of the world, the healing of the blind, the resurrection of the dead, peace and joy, the service of your church to the world, and the care of your people for one another, and most of all, the love of the cross.
Help us to be the mouthpieces of your glory. Give us the work and money we need for each day and free us from anxiety about it and then give us opportunity and words to advance your reputation before others. Heal us from our sicknesses and free us from the fear of death and help us know what to say to people so that they are amazed at your care for us. Help us delight in sacrificial care for one another so that those outside may see clearly that we are followers of Jesus. Answer our prayers dramatically so that the world may be in awe of you. Keep us from great sins and hold us up to live lives of evident holiness so that you may be honored for the strength by which we stand.
We pray for our service this morning and ask that you would be honored in all that is done here. May our songs be pleasant to you. May you be pleased as the truth is taught through the reading and exposition of the scriptures. Help us to be receptive hearers, that we would not be hearers only but doers of the word. Help us to love you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. In our fellowship, help us to speak truth with each other, always seeking others' interests ahead of our own. We ask that you would specially encourage those who serve in the nursery that we might gather here.