In worship, we are spiritually refreshed and renewed. In worship, we sense the voice of God as in no other human activity. In worship, we who are disparate individuals become one people through joining together in prayer and praise. In worship, we who change little from year to year are changed remarkably, if only for an hour. In worship, God comes to us and we come to God. Therefore let us, with confidence, approach the God who bids us to come and worship Him.
Pastoral Prayer
Loving God of us all, we bow before Thee in prayer, imploring Thy love to be with us and to transform us. We have been reminded once again of the frailty of human existence through yet another killer lashing out against his inner demons by taking the lives of innocent people who did not know him and knew nothing about him until he shot them in an insane frenzy. We pray for the families of those who were killed, asking that somehow they may experience the power of Thy consoling love, even when they wonder whether Thou dost exist at all or that Thy nature is love itself. Be with all those to whom tragedy of any sort has made its visit, but they question whether Thou shalt ever find them in the midst of their deep grief.
We pray for many others who have lost a loved one through natural causes, and who thus feel differently about their loss than those who have family members who were gunned down in senseless violence. However it is that anyone comes to grief, be with those people in their time of mourning. Lift from them the burden of sorrow, and eventually may they be restored to feelings of stability and assurance which they have previously known. Lord God, we need Thy loving care, especially when events seem to conspire against us, and hope is driven far away. Be near to us when we feel far from Thee and even far from ourselves.
We thank Thee, O God, for the faith Thou hast given us, and for the ways faith sustains us in the trials which inevitably confront all of us. Help us to be pillars of faith to one another, particularly in times of great need. We praise Thee for revealing Thyself though friends and family and complete strangers, people who reflect Thy goodness by means of their own goodness. Give us eyes to see Thee everywhere, O Thou omnipresent Creator of the universe. These prayers we make in the name of Jesus Christ, our earthly Lord. Now we pray together as he once taught his first disciples, saying, Our Father….