Worship is praise and prayer. It is the hearing of God’s word and our response to it. It is a means of lifting us from the cares and concerns of an often troubling and befuddling world into the very presence of God. It is a means of thinking about who God is and who we are in relationship to Him. Worship is one of the best ways, but by no means the only way, of strengthening our understanding of and commitment to God. Therefore let us, with bold confidence, worship God.
Pastoral Prayer
Loving God, we thank Thee for the privilege which is ours to gather together to give Thee praise and thanksgiving. When we worship, we are reminded again that we are not alone in the world, that Thou art with us each step of our individual and collective pilgrimages. Teach us how more effectively to rely on Thee so that we may more effectively learn to rely on ourselves. Help us to perceive more clearly both the power of Thy relationship to us and the necessity of our developing more power in and of ourselves.
We pray of this Lord’s Day for the American people as collectively we are all involved in a solemn and painful historical event. We pray for the members of the United States Senate, the House members who serve as the prosecution of the President, for the President’s attorneys who offer his defense, for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who presides at this momentous trial, and most of all for the President himself. Grant him clarity of thought and action as he goes through the agonizing process of seeing himself pilloried before the largest jury American jurisprudence has ever envisioned. In an action which itself further polarizes us, we ask that when the verdict is finally announced, by Thy spirit working within us, may all of us be more devoted to truth, justice, and mercy for all because of this awesome, awful spectacle.
We pray for all Thy children everywhere who feel cut off from the love of everyone: people in prisons, whether justly or unjustly languishing there; people who have lost everyone they ever loved through warfare and bloodshed; people whose behavior has been so detrimental that it has prompted everyone to turn away from them, but who still need affection and altruism from others despite their bad behavior. We pray for all who are sick or afraid, or are in pain, despair, sorrow, anguish, or isolation. Grant acquiescence to those who kick constantly against the goads, equanimity to those who constantly fight the system, and wisdom to those who foolishly refuse all assistance, even from Thee. These things we ask in Jesus’ name. Now we pray as he taught us, saying, Our Father….