Holy Father, Great and Mighty is Your Name…and Greatly are you to be feared…and yet we don’t. We fear others much more than we fear you…we fear job loss, social rejection, and unmet desires more than we fear you.

The same tongue that confesses you Lord and Father, is the same one that curses our fellow man…possibly even brother, sister, husband, or wife. Oh, God this should not be.

We are so consumed with our world, we dance upon the precipice of conforming to the patterns of this world and still say that we hold passports to the Kingdom of Heaven, yet how little do our hearts actually long to be there.

Vacations, degrees, jobs, relationships, houses amid a thousand other things…these are the things that tug at the strings of our hearts…they are the loves that lead us more than our love for you.

So, what are we to do, Father? We confess that we fear others more than we fear you…we confess and curse others while also using the same tongue to praise you…we confess we are enamored with the world when we are to be enamored with the Kingdom…we confess we love this fleeting Kingdom more than the Kingdom of heaven. What hope do we have? To whom shall we go for relief? The Load is far too heavy for us to bear. No work….no good deed…no good intentions could ever teach our hearts to cast off the lure of this fleeting world…we are desperate. We know our sickness and we realize we cannot manufacture a cure.

So we reach, this morning, we reach for the Great Physician…Christ the Lord. In Him and Him alone is our hope. There is no other foundation upon which our lives can be built and succeed than on the Rock of Christ Jesus…He is the Fount of Living Water, He is the Bread of Life, He is the True Vine, the Shepherd of the Sheep, the Bright and Morning Star, the Shadow from the Heat, The Prince of our Peace, The Way, The Truth, and The Life, The King of Glory…and in light of our Sin we are amazed most of all, that we can call Him….friend.

We rejoice that you take sinners and mold them into saints by your grace and for your glory.

Forgive us, Lord for our foolish hearts that are so prone to wander, so prone to leave the God we love. Thank you for the blood and suffering of Christ that makes it possible for us to humbly approach your throne and receive Grace and Mercy in our time of need. Oh, what a salvation…what a God! Train our hearts like we would a vine to grow up into you…give us patience as we so ruthlessly try and cling to the earth.

Train those here in our city that have set their face against you to be at peace with you. Our friends, our neighbors, co-workers, our bosses, and our enemies…for the sake of your glorious Name…would you reveal to them the deceitfulness of sin and the honesty of Christ…would you show them a better way…with better hopes and better loves than the ones they currently possess?

Give opportunities to us this week to be Ambassadors of Christ to those people…give us courage to speak boldly…make our feet the blessed feet that brings good news to the poor, the orphan, and the widow.

Father…the throngs mourn in Nepal today. May your people stream to the destruction and bring beauty for ashes…may many of your people come and weep with those that are weeping and give food to those that need it…water for those that need it…homes for those that need it…hope for the many who most certainly need it. God we pray MERCY…mercy on those who continue to endure suffering…MERCY on those who have lost family, friends, brothers/sisters, aunts/uncles…please, God…BRING YOUR SON that Earth quakes would be no more…that wars, beheadings, rape, abortions, and starvation will be done away with.

Grant wisdom and fruit to R and E as they care for refugees in N. Iraq that have fled all of these things…give them abilities in language that far outweigh their training and grant them conversations that will lead to many other conversations that will lead to life and peace for many that have fled there.

And here, in our own city we pray for those who will gather today to herald the Gospel…All Nations, Washington International, Pillar DC, NCC, Grace DC…may they…may we be united in the Gospel that many might come to know the greatness of Christ.

We pray for S, W & L, C & J, H & L, N, and G. May they bring hope to the hopeless this week and may they gather with us here so that peace might come upon them and they might forever know the splendor of your glorious Name.