O good and gracious God,
we have no words to express the gratitude
we feel for all You have done.
You have given Yourself to us in Jesus.
You have loved us long before we were aware of You.
You have been gracious to us in our failings
and never held our sins against us.
You have poured out the blessings of life upon us.
You have given us everything we need.
Our hearts overflow with all the ways
You have shown Your love
and shown us that we are deeply loved.
We come to this place this morning to recommit ourselves
to being faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.
We know if we are ever going to truly follow Jesus,
we will first need to truly repent of our sins.
As your great servant, Dietrich Bonhoeffer said,
we cannot fall prey to “cheap grace.”
So we ask You, Lord,
forgive us when we seek Your grace without first repenting.
Forgive us when we seek grace
without committing ourselves to be Your disciples.
Forgive us when we seek absolution without personal confession.
When we gather in this place Sunday after Sunday
to hear preaching that will remind us that we are loved and forgiven,
remind us also that we need to change our selfish ways.
When we gather to remember
the way we came up out of the waters of our baptism
to symbolize life abundant and eternal,
remind us also to remember our immersion into the waters
to symbolize death to self.
When we come to gather around a table to commune with You and each other,
remind us also to confess our sins and our shortcomings.
When we come to this place to receive grace and love,
remind us also to be encouraged to share grace and love with others.
When we come to worship at the foot of the cross,
remind us also to pick up the cross and carry it ourselves.
When we come to worship Christ in the safety and comfort of this sanctuary,
remind us also that Christ is actually alive today,
present here, calling us, prodding us, pulling us
to follow Him out into a risky and uncomfortable world.
O God, forgive us of our love for “cheap grace.”
Help us to truly repent, turn from our wicked ways,
and seek to live FOR a grace, IN a grace, and BY a grace
that is worthy of your sacrificial love for us, even if it is “costly.”
May we come to this place to seek this grace Sunday after Sunday.
May we keep asking, keep knocking at Your door,
keep giving our lives away to You,
keep denying ourselves,
and keep looking to You for the strength we need
to pick up our crosses
and follow our Lord and our Savior wherever He leads.
Because we know that this grace is the only way
to true life, abundant and eternal.
So, come Lord Jesus,
come and pour out Your mercy and grace,
love and salvation over us.
Even when we were dead, Paul writes,
Even when we turned away from the One who had created us;
Even when we lived in the grip of what drew our gaze from God;
Even when we were oblivious;
Even when we followed a path,
fashioned of nothing but our own desires;
Even when we wandered far and willfully away;
Even when we forgot to look past our own feet
and to see the wonders not of our own making;
Even when we failed to stand in awe,
to breathe thanks,
to lean into the love that had waited long for us;
Even when, Paul writes,
Even when,
even THEN:
GRACE.
We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,
who taught us the very words to pray, saying…
We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who taught us the very words to pray, saying…
Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever…. Amen.
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