Kathryn Feliciano

Worship through Prayer

Father, we pause here for a moment to come to you in prayer. You, and you alone are worthy of our highest praise. You are holy. You are high and lifted up. You never change. You are Sovereign over all affairs of the world. You take down and you put up. You are from forever to forever. You are maker and creator of the universe. You formed the seas and told them where to go. You pulled up the mountains and laid out the green grass. Nothing is beyond you, Oh God.

And not only this but you, Lord, are love. You are life. You are where our true liberty is found. We are at a loss for words to express the infinite worth of your glory. Receive the praise of our worship this morning. In every song, every prayer, in the sermon that will come, and in the supper that will follow, receive our worship.

And as we meditate on such things, we are quickly struck by the distance that exists between who you are and what we are apart from your Son. We agree, Father, that this past week, we did not live as we should have lived. We did not treasure you for your infinite worth, but instead we sought our own.

Father, forgive us for placing other gods before you. The idols of jobs, relationships, vacations, materialistic goods, yes, even our own sleep, we have put these things before you. Forgive us.

Father, forgive us for bowing down to those images, those idols. How we have sacrificed for them, but we so rarely sacrifice for you. Forgive us.

Father, forgive us for the ways we have taken your name in vain. Whether that be uttering your name with contempt or in crude joking or in taking the name Christian, and abusing that name by abusing the grace you have given to even be named by you in the first place. Father, forgive us.

Father, forgive us for not observing the Sabbath. By our treating it like it were any other day. Thinking it no different than a Saturday. Forgive us for our lack of rest and our lack of attention to the duty of worship with your people on this Sabbath day. Forgive us, Lord.

Father, forgive us for the ways we have not honored our father and mothers. Lord, you told us that in honoring them it goes well with us. And yet, we too often neglect them or are annoyed by them. Forgive us.

Father, forgive us for the ways our anger is like murder. How we are angry with people and sin.

Father, forgive us for the ways we have committed adultery this week, through our entertaining lustful thoughts or pursuing those thoughts in the wicked degradation of pornography.

Father, forgive us for stealing from others. Taking something that is not ours.

Father, forgive us for lying. In an effort to hide the Truth, we have been dishonest, unlike you who is perfectly truthful.

Father, forgive us for our covetousness. We so often conform to this world and desire things that other people have instead of being content with what you have given us.

We are desperate people. We plead your grace-laced love that will forgive us of our sins! It is with this that we REJOICE that in Christ, we have redemption! We sinners, we bumbling, distracted, messy people who hope in Christ alone for salvation, WE HAVE Redemption. We don’t work towards it, but we HAVE it IN CHRIST who accomplished it for us and TO YOU and your glory. In Christ we have redemption through HIS blood, the forgiveness of all our sins according to the riches of YOUR grace. Hallelujah. What a Savior. Thank you Jesus.

Thank you for forgiveness. Thank you for life and breath. Thank you for friends, for family, for children, for the sun, the skies, for laughter, and good food. Thank you for the church. Thank you for THIS church, Restoration Church, and all the ways it serves as a refuge for our weary souls. Thank you Jesus for securing us EVERYTHING that we need.

So, it is with this that we can boldly, and confidently petition you on your throne.

Lord, I pray for J, P, W as they have now joined this church. As well as M and J as they join with us through baptism. Lord we rejoice that you have brought them to us. Would you cause your face to shine upon them as they submit to you and to the church? May their time with us be marked as days of tremendous growth in the knowledge of your will and the depth of your love. Lead them to serve others sacrificially here in the church as we seek to serve them.

Father, I pray for P, for K, for H, and H. May these sisters have the BEST of times in prayer in the coming week. May they enjoy you as they seek you.

For my brothers. I pray for J, L, S, S, V. God, may these brothers boldly proclaim the Gospel to someone that needs it this week. And may we come back here next week and learn of what came of their boldness.

Father, we not only pray for ourselves, but we also pray for other gospel-believing churches around the world. For the church Harshit Singh leads in Lucknow, India, for K as he leads his church in Kenya…for J as he leads Covenant Life church in Tampa. Oh God, be good to them by showing them more and more of yourself. May those churches spread the gospel and uphold their calling to be set apart from the world. Protect them. Give them more leaders and more converts born to you.

Lastly, Father, I pray for this church. That we would grow in diversity. Diversity of age, ethnicity, and economics. Insofar as Ward 3 allows, may we reflect our community. And may we, the church that is Restoration Church band together in order to shine a beacon of light to a people in need. May we MAGNIFY The Sufficiency of our Savior. In our lives and in our doctrine, may we say to all–Christ is GLORIOUS. And He is not only worthy to be lived for, but He is also worthy to die for. Grant that we would be passionate about your glory!

Bless our brother J as he comes in a moment to preach the majesty of Jesus Christ. May we give ourselves to his words as we trust that they are your words for us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

by Kathryn Feliciano

Worship through Prayer

Infinitely glorious God, we come to you this morning. We praise your name. We confess our sins knowing that in Jesus Christ we have forgiveness and pardon and peace and forever joy. How glorious and gracious you are, O Lord God Almighty.

Your Word tells us that thanksgiving glorifies your name. So, this morning, we give thanks. We thank you for life and breath. We thank you for food to eat and clothes to wear. We thank you for rays of sun and drops of rain. We thank you for songs to sing. We thank you for your perfect Word, the Bible. We thank you for budding flowers and blossoming trees. We thank you for the beauty of art and those who are creative. We thank you for the coherence of math and for those who understand it. We thank you for the various tastes of our tongue: sweet, sour, savory. We thank you for the smell of lavender and of freshly baked cookies. We thank you for this church family and the many ways you are at work in us and through us. We thank you for the 50+ ladies that went on the women’s retreat.

For the glory of your name, Lord, use us to advance the good news of Jesus Christ. Give us the boldness and courage to speak of Christ with our neighbors, classmates, co-workers, family members and friends. Give us the grace to speak with convictional kindness that we might show the excellencies of Jesus Christ. Use us Lord, to advance the gospel to our neighbors and to the nations. We pray for the gospel work in Northern Iraq. Continue to use R&E, J&J, K, L and the other workers to speak of Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected. Grant them favor with their neighbors and friends. As they speak of Jesus give them appropriate words and understanding of a language not of their native tongue. We pray for the translation of the Bible. For the sake of Jesus Christ, see that this work is completed soon. We pray for other faithful churches in DC – Capitol Hill Baptist, GraceDC, Redeemer City, Redemption Hill, Veritas Church, Pillar DC – bless these brothers and sisters as they seek the exalt Jesus Christ.

We pray for our life together as a church. Holy Spirit fill us anew this day that we might pursue and promote and protect our unity in the gospel. Give us the grace to rejoice at each other’s happiness and tenderly bear each other’s burdens. Give us the humility to not seek our own preferences. Give us words of wisdom to encourage each other, and when necessary, exhort one another. Let us consider how to prioritize gathering with the church body on Sunday mornings, even when seems inconvenient. Let us consider how to give generously of our finances being reminded we cannot worship both God and money.

Use each one of our Community Groups as a place where we help each other mature in Christ and mutually care for one another. We pray for our CG Leaders: D&M, D&L, C&F, E&J, D&H, N&W, D&P, N&C, T&M, L&L, E&J. Give these brothers and sisters the grace to lead with joy and stir us up for love and good deeds. We pray for our deacons: M, D, S, M, and L. Thank you for the selflessness of these brothers and sisters who work behind the scenes. Bless them, we pray.

Father, this morning we are mindful of the brokenness of the world. As missiles fly and refugee camps overflow, we are reminded of the fragility of life. We pray for world leaders as they make decisions literally regarding life and death for so many. Surround President Trump, Prime Minister Theresa May, President Emmanuel Marcon with wise counselors. Bring peace to the turmoil in Syria. We plead, O Lord, we plead for your sovereign grace to abound in the brokenness of this world.

And as our Lord Jesus, taught us, we pray together:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your 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.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For yours is the kingdom, and the power and the glory

Forever and ever. Amen.

by Kathryn Feliciano

Worship through Prayer

Father, We praise you for your mercy and for your justice!

Father, in your mercy you created a people for yourself, a people made of people who did not deserve to be loved, a people made of people who did not know what it meant to be a people, a people of people who didn’t belong together. Father, you created your church to show your glory and to share your love. In your mercy, you sought out rebellious sheep and had mercy on them when they themselves didn’t want to be saved or desired you. You were fed up with their misery and saved them.

Father, in your justice, you fought against evil and didn’t close your eyes to it. We praise you for the fact that you are a God of justice, who works hard at accomplishing justice. We praise you that you are not arbitrary or capricious, but careful, patient and thoughtful. Father we praise you for how you did justice in your Son to save sinners who had rebelled against you. Out of your own great love, you showed them grace at great expense to yourself to accomplish justice. Our sin was great, but your mercy and justice were greater.

We are thankful Lord that you made us part of your people. You didn’t turn against us to destroy us, but to save us. You took pity on us and we are grateful. We thank you for your people, the church, which you have assembled and for the privilege to see and experience your grace as part of it.

We thank you for our brothers and sisters whom you have saved. We thank you for our brothers and sisters who are not like us, who like other things than us, who have different political views, who have different skin colors, who have different types of jobs, who have different histories. We thank you because through our brothers and sisters we see you grace and are encouraged to obey you more and to love you more.

We thank you for our brothers and sisters who offend us through their actions and words, we thank you for our brothers and sisters who let us down and for our brothers and sisters who forget about us. We thank you because by loving our brothers and sisters we can learn to love like you love. And we can learn to be merciful and to be just as you are merciful and just.

For, Father, we don’t know how to love, we don’t know how to be merciful and we don’t how to be just. Even if we look at the past week, we loved our idols more than our brothers and sisters.

We considered ourselves better than people of different political views, with different life habits and from different socio-economic conditions. Our mercy was as good as our ability to think of ourselves superior. When it came to doing justice, we called for what advantaged us, forgetting the other’s own grievances. We acted out of fear of what might happen to us or what we might lose and not out of a love for what is right. We wanted to get back at the other person because they treated us poorly. We rewrote the history and the memory of our relationships to demean the other person in our and other people’s eyes. We lumped people together based on group dynamics. We envied the position and status of our neighbor and called for a justice that decreases them and lifts us up.

Father, forgive us our sin! Forgive us for being selfish, self-centered and disobedient. Have mercy on us. Enable us to learn love, mercy and justice.

We thank you for Jesus, that you accomplished mercy and justice and that we can now be part of your family and receive forgiveness.

We pray, Lord, for love. We pray that you enable and empower us to know what love is and what it looks like. We pray that we rest in your grace, not in our own good deeds and so-called sacrifices which do not measure up to a drop of your grace. Lord, enable us to be merciful and just and to grow in doing mercy and justice. Help us not do the mercy and justice of the mob in the public square, but your mercy and justice.

Father, in your Word, you have given us all we need to know truth, love, mercy and justice. Help us rest in, eat and devour your Word in seeking wisdom to love our neighbors. Father, help us defeat sin one day at a time as we practice loving our neighbors as revealed in your Scriptures. Help us love, have mercy and do justice by the obedience you have called us to.

Father, in this divided and compass-less society we live in, we pray that Restoration Church would be a light. We pray we would be faithful in sharing the Gospel and our love for one another would be real and visible.

In particular, Father, just as you intended the church to be a place where both Jews and Gentiles live together, we pray that Restoration Church and believing churches in this country would be a light of love between people of different skin colors and backgrounds. Father, grant us to obey you daily in loving people of different skin colors and backgrounds. Grant us knowledge and obedience in how to make justice where justice is due.

Father, our society looks like Judges. Truth is in the eye of the beholder, everybody doing what is right in their own eyes. The weak and the poor are trampled upon and justice is not served. Divisions between people are on the rise. Father, have mercy on this country! Pour out your grace in the form of spiritual awakening! Grant our leaders knowledge of truth to fight against evil and do justice!

In Christ’s name, Amen.

by Kathryn Feliciano

Worship through Prayer

Father,

We praise you that your words are true. We can be sure of this because of the fact of the resurrection. Christ overcame death, and we can have great hope this morning.

According to your word, the profile of world history is defined by the massive turning points of the fall of humankind, Christ’s earthly life, death and resurrection, and his future return and promise of a heavenly kingdom.

Lord, so much was lost in the garden when our ancestors chose to reject your good word and go their own way. On that day, death entered our world through their first sin. And subsequently, the beauty and wonder of your world has been stained by pain, suffering, sin and death. All of us know and experience this on a daily basis - and yearn for it to be different.

Today, we praise you for Christ and his work for us.

• He came to into our broken world.

• He experienced it - he cried with us, experienced pain and suffering - and ultimately drank the bitter cup of death itself.

• All this was not merely to empathise with us. He died to deliver us from death.

• We praise you this morning for this boundless demonstration of your love. You offered yourself up to death that we might be freed from death and experience life in all its fullness.

In the event of the resurrection we see a demonstration of Christ’s victory over the tyranny of death. On the first easter morning for the first time since the fall, a human being who would never die again, walked on the earth. And we believe your promise this morning that ‘Whoever believes in Christ, though he die, yet shall he live’ in the same unending way.

Confess, we often settle our hopes and dreams on so much less than the hope of your eternal kingdom.

Forgive us for undervaluing the things that are ultimate in value.

• We confess that we look for life in many wrong places. Against all reason, we hope in tangible immediate things.

• We presume that our physical lives will be long and arrogantly plan as if the time we have is our own.

• We place security in healthy diets, frequent exercise and skilled doctors - as if this life is ultimate. Yet you call us to invest our lives now in the life to come. You tell us: "For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it."

Forgive us for clinging on to our lives - rather than being willing to lose them for your sake.

Father we pray that hope of a better world under you eternal rule would permeate our lives more and more:

• We pray for those amongst us who struggle with hopelessness and depression. Help them Lord. May your promises be a comfort each day and may we as a church to love and support them.

• We pray for those here whose bodies have pain and sickness; we pray for healing and we pray this reminder of the fallenness of our would create in them eager anticipation of Christ’s kingdom where there will be not more crying and pain.

• We pray for the lonely, that they would not despair. May our church increasingly be a place where know, love and care for one another reflecting that we are tied together through Christ in a family tighter than blood.

We pray that the hope of the resurrection would be seen and experienced by the Bedhini kurds of northern Iraq. In a time when their hopes of national identity and independence have been dashed, cause them to hear the gospel, read the bible and draw them to yourself. Encourage and strengthen those who are giving their lives to this end - and may we too partner sacrificially with them.

As we turn to your word in a few minutes, we ask that you would help Nathan as he preaches, and us to listen with eagerness.

Amen

by Kathryn Feliciano