The world is made up of all kinds of people, most of whom are relatively good, but some of whom are obviously quite bad. Therefore some have more sins to repent of than others. Nevertheless, God loves everyone equally, and loves each of us as though there were only one of us to love. A God such as that is like no one else we have ever known, and such a God deserves our undying thanks and praise. Therefore let us, with growing confidence, worship the God of universal love.
Pastoral Prayer
Loving and gracious God, we thank Thee for Thy love, which is always extended to us, regardless of what we do or do not do, and Thy grace, which reaches out to us in every situation we ever encounter, never allowing us ultimately to fail. We confess that we are utterly unworthy of such love and grace, and yet we revel in it, luxuriating in Thy continuous mercy. Teach us how great is the cost of Thy grace, and how little we deserve it. And when we come fully to realize our unworthiness, then convince us that in Thy sight we are nonetheless supremely worthy. In this blessed mystery may we find hope and comfort forever.
We pray for the millions of Thy children who never seem to be able to accept Thy grace and love, and who live in constant fear of Thee and of Thine inevitably hidden nature. Break down the barriers which their thinking has built up between themselves and Thee. Help them to trust in the unconditional nature of Thy love, and therefore to know that they too are included in it. We pray also for people who are exemplars of righteousness, and yet feel themselves to be terrible sinners. However they came to their skewed beliefs, shatter those beliefs by the power of Thy lovingkindness, so that they may enter into a fuller, happier, and more productive relationship with Thee.
We pray for the thousands of children who have come unaccompanied to our southern border from nations under permanent siege farther to the south. Their parents have hoped they would be welcomed into our country, but politically that has become increasingly impossible, and yet the children continue to come, pawns in a high-stakes political game of “chicken.” We pray for a world in which injustice, hatred, class and political warfare are rampant, and Thy people seem unwilling or unable to reverse the processes of social and national dissolution. Make us better stewards of Thine earth, Lord God, and teach us how better to respect others who have very different convictions and beliefs from our own. These things we ask in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ, one of the great lights in Thy tragically darkened world. Now we pray as he taught us, saying, Our Father….