Come and meet us here today. Come in your Word and speak to us. Come in your Holy Spirit and comfort us. Come as our Father and hear the prayers of your children.

Lord, cheer us in our sorrows. Sustain us in our trials. Strengthen us in our weariness. Render us to be fruitful in our Christian duties. Establish in our hearts both peace and joy. Incite in us a desire to commune with you in prayer.

Lord, we ask for much. We pray for great and small things. We pray for the gospel to conquer us. Lord, we can be a rebellious people. We can lie. We can cheat. We can deceive. We can break our promises and our vows. We can steal. With our mouths we can take from our friends both their dignity and respect. With our ears we can listen to gossip that should never have been spoken. With our eyes we can lust for those things forbidden unto us by Thy law. We are capable of the worst sins. We are sometimes too proud and sometimes too humble. We can speak too much and we can be silent when we should speak. We can identify the sins of others and be blind to our own sins. We can be courageous and yet we can be as cowards. Lord, we are not happy with ourselves. We grieve over our sins and failures. We sometimes cry tears because we have failed Thee.

Yet, O Lord, You delight in a contrite and broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart you will not despise. It is the blood of the Son of God that cleanses us from sin. It is the atonement of one who appeased the wrath of God who washes us as white as snow. It is His death that gives life. It is His rejection that enables us to be received. Not our death. Not our rejection. But the death and rejection of the Son of God. Grant to each of us here today that as we come as beggars, we come ready to be made rich. As we come empty, we come ready to be made full. As we come guilty, we come ready to be declared innocent.

Is God still righteous? Do men still reap what they sow? Surely, our God is the same from everlasting to everlasting. Surely, our God does not change. Surely our God is immutable.

O Lord, answer the prayers of Thy people. Hear the prayers of the righteous. The word tells us that the “effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Have mercy upon us O God, before we stiffen our necks and become hardened. Have mercy upon us O God, before we play the harlot and forget Thy ways and Thy laws.

Grant Thy blessings on the work of Thy Church. Lord, Thy Church is weak. Thy Church often becomes showy and proud. We care more about what the world thinks of us than does the God we serve. Purify thy people. Let the wicked go their way and let the righteous stand as bold as a lion.

Lord, call to our remembrance that to live is Christ and to die is gain. May we remember that for those who endure, for those that persevere, there is a better place where we shall inherit a treasure not made with hands and where moth and rust do not corrupt. Lord, may it be our hymn that we have fought the good fight, we have finished the course, and we have kept the faith. For us there is laid up in heaven a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge will award to us on that day; and not only to us, but also unto all those who love his appearing.

Lord, you have blessed us beyond all expectation. We live in a land that flows with milk and hone. What nation on all the earth has seen the blessings as we have seen? Lord, we thank you for the freedom to worship in accord with our conscience. We thank you for the freedom to speak the truth of God without the fear of harm. We thank you for the freedom to raise our children according to the dictates of our own faith. We thank you for the freedom to travel without restrictions. We thank you for the freedom of being safe in our own homes. We thank you for the freedom to defend our persons and our families from those who would unlawfully take from us.

Lord, you command us to enter into your gates with thanksgiving. Here we are. Bless us this day. Lord, you command us to enter your courts with praise. Here we are. Bless us this day. Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Lord, here we are. Come to us and meet us here today in this place as we pray, as we sing, and as we hear the word of God.