Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of your glory. From the vastness of the ocean to the majesty of mountains – from the depth of the seas to the heights of the heavens. Creator of every atom and stitch of creation, and maker of every man, woman, and child, we praise you. We worship you. We exalt in you. You are boundless in your love and in your mercy and in your grace. And oh God, how we know of your grace. For not only have you saved us from sin, but you saved us while we were still sinful. Even when we had our hearts set against you, you reached out to us: forsaking your heavenly throne, you came to us as a servant. Not to be served, but to serve. And oh God, what service you provided. What more could we ever ask for than for you to die on the cross, and to rise again: to not only pay for our sins, but to provide us hope forever and ever. How good it is to be reminded of your gospel kindness towards a sinful people.

And Father, we have no doubts: we are sinful. We have sinned in both what we have done, and in what we have failed to do. In thought, word, and deed, we have fallen far short of the standard you provide. Though we know it to be wrong, we still lie. Though we know we shouldn’t, we envy. Oh God, how much of our sin this week has been rooted in envy? Father, we confess to wanting what we do not have, to quarreling for what we have not received, for failing to ask you for the desires of our hearts, and for the disordered desires that lead us to follow the god of our belly.

We confess to wanting what isn’t and shouldn’t be ours: to envying our neighbor’s possessions, and lusting after bodies that don’t belong to us.  We confess to allowing these desires to drive us to spend more time at work than we should, to sacrifice our families and friends for the sake of our own advancement, to failing to live sacrificially and generously as you command.

We confess too Father, that often when we give, we do so out of compulsion, not joy. We ask that you would set this right Father: that you would give us new hearts that rejoice in giving, not taking. We ask that you would give us hearts that worship the creator, not what you create.

And Father, we thank you for the many ways you’ve already accomplished this. We thank you that you are working in hearts even now, transforming them by one degree of glory to another. Father, we pray that you would continue this work. We pray that you continue this work not only here, but in churches throughout DC and throughout the world. Would you continue to make disciples for yourself at Capitol Hill Baptist Church, at Iglesia Biblica Sublime Gracia, at Del Rey Baptist Church, at Grace DC and Mosaic. Would you make disciples for yourself in the Dominican Republic and Haiti and Kazan and Kurdistan? Would you see disciples made in Jordan and the UAE? Would you bring more men and women in Uganda and Canada and Australia into your people?

Father God, you provide every good thing for us, so we trust you as we come to you with our requests. As we begin a new school year, would you help the students among us to glorify you in their studies and research? Would you help them to learn what they need to understand your creation, and equip them with the skills they need to serve your image bearers well? For the teachers among us, we bring you our prayers as well. We thank you for N, and J, and D. We praise you for the successes they’ve seen and will see in the classroom, and we pray that you would give them and other teachers here and throughout the District faithful patience and lovingkindness, that their students might excel and feel loved in a difficult city. We pray for the city of Washington, and for the leaders here, Father: local and national. Would you give our council members, mayor, the representatives and senators and judges and President wisdom and wise advisors? Would you help shape our government to be just and righteous as you command it to be?

Finally Father, we pray for the hearts and souls of those gathered here today. For those who are hurting, we trust that you will remedy that hurt. For those who are rejoicing, we thank you and pray you would help that joy continue on until glory. And Father, we do pray that glory would come soon – would you soon send your sin to restore all creation, that we might finally sing your praises, in spirit and in truth, crying out before your throne “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God almighty: the whole earth is full of his glory.” Thank you for allowing us to praise your name in the here and now, and for providing us comfort while we wait to see the Promised Land. We pray all this in eager expectation of that promise, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the name of your son Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.