Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We pray, come Lord Jesus, come; transform our lowly bodies to be like your glorious body; redeem and restore all of creation that we might enjoy you together with all your people forever and ever.

We praise you this morning. We lift up your holy, triune name—Father, Son and Spirit. We praise you, Lord, for you are majestic and merciful; full of grace, perfect in justice; beyond comprehension, yet near to those who have childlike trust in you; eternal but existing in time and space in Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord. For we know that the Lord is great and that our God is above all gods.

Father, we come to you this morning in the name of Jesus Christ. We rest in your grace and mercy and sovereignty. You are in control and you are good and gracious. We grieve the brokenness of this world and the pervasive effects of sin. We are daily bombarded with the face of poverty, terrorism attacks, the evil of racism, religious persecution for Christians and other faiths around the world, and many other tragedies. Father, we come to you pleading for an end to these horrors. For the glory of your name, feed the hungry, clothe the poor, bring an end to famine. We pray for our enemies, those who attack Christians, those who persecute religious minorities, those who practice and promote racism, those who systematically oppress your image bearers. Bring grace to our enemies, save them; transform those who promote hatred that they might proclaim the glorious good news of the gospel. However you work Lord, restrain the evils, promote justice, and bring about your good purposes. Holy Spirit, keep our hearts soft toward evils and injustices; even if we’re not directly affected, prevent our hearts from growing cold and callous.

Use us, use Restoration, to be a model of racial reconciliation, of compassion toward the needy. Cause each member of our church to have a deep love for all image bearers, Christians and non-Christians. Mark us with humility, generosity, and an eagerness to see the hope and healing of the gospel go forth in Washington, DC and beyond. We praise you for the work our sister is doing in the Middle East. Grant her much grace to continue caring for refugees and sharing the gospel. We pray for DC127. Continue to use this organization and our members like T and M, W, K and others to care for the impoverished. We praise you for the many ways our members care for others and ask that you’d use us all the more to advance the gospel in this way that all peoples might taste and see that you are good.

Lord, as we think about the brokenness of this world, we’re also aware of our own brokenness. Sin lurks deep within our hearts affecting what we do and distorting what we love. We confess our own racism that causes us to think we are better than others because of our ethnicity or race. We confess our dullness toward evil not hating what you hate and loving what you love. We repent, O Lord. Forgive us, we pray. We confess our pride promoting self and personal preferences more than Christ and his glory. We confess that we have lied this past week to protect our image; we have been greedy treasuring things of this earth more than you; we have been immoral romantically be it physically or virtually; we have used harsh words to wound others; we have been impatient thinking the world revolves around us and our comfort. We confess our sins against you and against your image bearers. We repent, O Lord. Forgive us we pray.

We praise you that this morning that we have forgiveness in Jesus Christ. He is our righteousness. He is our purity. And we rejoice that we are not just forgiven from our sins, but because of Jesus we are reconciled back into sweet, intimate fellowship with you, our great and gracious God. We confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that you raise him from the dead. We plead the sin-atoning, Satan-defeating, shame-removing, heaven-bringing blood of Jesus Christ. We rest in Jesus and rejoice in the heavenly hope of the gospel as we await for our Savior to return.

Until then, use us to help each other follow Jesus. We pray for those members moving from DC this summer. In your grace, use them to serve other local churches using their gifts to build up fellow brothers and sisters around this nation. Holy Spirit, as we face challenges and difficulties, as we work through disagreements and disappointments, keep us united in the gospel of our Lord. Use each one of us to protect and promote agreement in the Lord. As we build each other up, give us the boldness to tell others about the joy and eternal hope found in Christ. Do that this morning as the word goes forth from this service. Do that this morning as the word goes forth in Restoration Kids. Do that as we leave this place and interact with family, friends, co-workers and neighbors. We praise you Lord. For you are great and gracious and good. In the precious and powerful name of Christ, we pray. Amen.