When we gather in worship, we do so as individual people, with individual ideas about what constitutes the best we can be with respect to God. Some of us think what we believe matters most to God, while others think what we do matters most. However it is we come, God gladly welcomes us into His fellowship and into His community of believers. With gratitude to Him for the breadth of His acceptance of all His daughters and sons, let us, with confidence, worship God.
Pastoral Prayer
We come unto Thee, O Thou who alone art eternal and who has existed forever, thanking Thee for Thine inestimable goodness in relating Thyself to us at all. When we consider how immense is Thy being, and how small is our own existence, we are awestruck that Thou dost care about us to any degree, let alone to the highest degree. And yet as we consider how great Thy love is for us, we confess how small and insignificant is our love for Thee. We do not ponder Thee enough or thank Thee enough or acknowledge Thee enough, and yet we somehow understand in our deepest being that Thou art far more than enough to us in every conceivable way and category. Teach us how more fully to connect ourselves to Thee, O Thou who art the ultimate connection to everything and everyone that exists.
We who have more to eat than necessary pray for those who have little to eat, some of whom may die of starvation if something is not done to assist them. We who have good health pray for those who have poor health, both because they live in places with poor health care or because they lack the financial resources to avail themselves of good health care they cannot afford. We who live in a free land, where we can worship freely or refrain from worship altogether, pray for those who live in lands where religion can make life very dangerous, and who are persecuted because of their beliefs. We who have far more than is necessary to sustain life pray for those who have nothing to sustain life, and whose lives shall end soon if something does not change. Teach us not only to be concerned for others, but to do for others.
Lord God, sometimes we become far too concerned about ourselves and our own supposed needs that we fail to consider the needs of others. Expand our horizons and our empathy, and show us how our lives can make a bigger difference in the lives of others. Enable us to become more like Jesus, who constantly gave himself to everyone else, so that everyone else might learn to give themselves more fully to Thee. These and all our prayers we make in Jesus’ name. Now we join in prayer as he taught his followers, saying, Our Father….