Oh God, you are faithful…faithful as the moon and sun in the sky. Faithful as the changing of seasons and the flowing of rivers…your faithfulness knows no end.
By your Faithfulness you led Abraham from Mesopotamia and took him home to the Land you promised him. By your faithfulness you gave him a son when all seemed lost. Your faithfulness raised up another son who gave another son that eventually gave rise to a people that number as many as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, again, just as you promised…you were faithful.
In your faithfulness you led them into Egypt to find food, and by your faithfulness you heard your people’s cry for help and you delivered them out by the blood of an unblemished lamb…passing them through the baptismal waters of the Red Sea and eventually back into the Land that you faithfully promised to their forefathers. You are faithful.
You faithfully delivered to your people the Law. You faithfully raised up laborers to build a Temple and in your faithfulness you set your presence in their midst, just as you promised them long before. Your faithfulness led you to raise up kings and prophets that spoke the Truth and reminded them of their waywardness and your faithfulness.
Till eventually…just as you told Adam and Eve at the beginning…some hundreds and hundreds, even thousands of years passed and your faithfulness delivered your Son…just as you promised. The Son of David, the Son of Abraham…born of a Virgin, come to deliver us from all of our faithlessness.
What joy is found in we faithless people petitioning you, the Faithful God of whom we have rebelled. To know that you not only welcome, but are glad to hear from us, invigorates ours hearts and minds. Sometimes we wonder why you would be willing to spend so much to bring us home to you, knowing that we are so often faithless and you, so faithful.
So, with broken hearts and, some of us, tear filled eyes and glad hearts, we ask your forgiveness. Like that Prodigal son…we are back again at your doorstep this morning, pleading your grace and forgiveness and oh what Joy there is to know that you so freely offer it!
We pray your forgiveness on our slothfulness…how slow we are to cultivate a love for you when you have done so much to quicken a love for us. We pray your forgiveness for the ways we have used our time, money, and talents this week. Many of us hardly gave a thought as to how we used them, forgetting all the while that we have nothing that was not given to us by you…forgetting that every resource was lent to us out of the storehouses of your glory. Have mercy on us.
Forgive us for where our minds drifted this week and forgive us for entertaining the prospect of sin in crude jokes, gossip, slander, and idolatry. You tell us that we are to be a City set upon a Hill for all to see. A people that are Holy…set apart, not conforming to the world, and too often we conform out of a desire to be accepted and approved by the very same world that hung up your Son to our shame though He had done nothing but love.
How thankful we are that you remain faithful in our faithlessness. How thankful we are that you will forgive our every sin as we lay claim to the work of Christ.
How thankful we are that, even though we are so often like babes in our faith, you are patient with us and show us a better way after we have wandered off the path of life. How thankful for the ASSURANCE of Pardon…thank you that we do not have to perform to earn your favor, since our hope is in Christ who faithfully performed the works of the Law though we do not. May Christ’s faithfulness move us into a faithfulness of our own as it is drawn from the well of your grace and empowered by your spirit.
God…many of us are despondent this morning. In your faithfulness, would you image forth your smile upon those that are…and may the picture of your love for us move them into a hope so strong that the fog of despondency lift!
Many of us are anxious. Remind us of your faithfulness and that no amount of worrying can add a single hour to our span of life. And may that fact cause calm and gladness to the anxious.
Many of us feel shame. Remind us that Christ was shamed FOR US, so there is no need to feel any shame for our sin…remind us that you are SO HAPPY to call us sons/daughters…Remind us that we are no longer defined by our sin, but by our Savior as we hope in Him.
Many of us are full of fear. Fearful of the prospects of dreams not coming true, jobs not being all that we had hoped, relationships not working the way we had thought, and life being more difficult than we thought they would be. Full of fear to share the good news to a world that seems increasingly hostile to it…Remind us that no weapon formed against Christ will stand. May we live in that confidence.
God…we are your people and you are our great shepherd. Lye us down in green pastures and lead us next to still waters and restore our souls. Lead us in paths of righteousness for your names sake. We confess the strong pull of our own names and our own preservation and our own acceptance and our own comforts…we want…we NEED you to birth in us a better hope than the lies we are told. Birth it in us by the reminder of your faithful and tender love.
Lastly, Lord we pray your faithfulness would be born in the hearts of this newly formed marriage in Matt and Kat. Oh how glad we are to consider your faithfulness to bring them together. Now lead them on to be faithful as they begin their work together as one.
And Lord, may your faithfulness lead the team that leaves for Scotland on Thursday. Make us bold in evangelism and eager to serve the poor and destitute. And bring us back here to testify once again to the faithfulness of your abiding love. Do it, Lord, for your glory. Make much of yourselves in the remaining portions of this service and even into this afternoon and into tomorrow for your glory. Amen.