Holy, Triune God, we come to give you praise and adoration for how glorious you are. You are eternal and unchangeable. You are present everywhere and perfect in your knowledge of all things. Your wisdom is unsearchable. You are the Sovereign, Owner and Lord of all. Your steadfast love endures all things and never ends. Your electing grace is irresistible. You are unspotted in purity and righteousness. You are always just in your government and control of all things. You are infinitely greater than our best thoughts and praises.

Yet you come to us; you come to us in Christ. We praise you this Advent season as we are reminded yet again of the marvelous truth of Christmas. At just the right time, you sent Jesus. We praise you for the birth of Christ. We praise you that he took our nature at Bethlehem. And we praise you that he died our death in Jerusalem nailed to a cross.

And we know this death was due to our sin; we confess that sin to you now. Your patience is perfect, yet our impatience is persistent. Instead of listening to others we talk over them. And when people don’t listen to us we get angry. Forgive us our sin, Lord God. Forgive us our anger against our children, when they don’t listen to us, we too often are offended not because they have dishonored you, but because they have disobeyed us; how sinful we are. Forgive us our bitterness in withholding forgiveness from those to whom we said we’ve given it. Forgive us our angry words in slandering others and gossiping about them to make ourselves feel better. We sin in these and so many other ways. Lord, our sin presents us with a list of true accusations; we are guilty before you.

We plead the blood of Christ alone for forgiveness. And we praise you that he rose again from the grave proving his sacrifice was enough to make us clean and pure and holy and righteous in your sight. Fill us with your Holy Spirit that we might increasingly see and savor Jesus Christ.

As we think about the sin that so often entangles our own hearts, we’re mindful of the broken world; a world hurting from sin and violence. We pray with sighs of lament and cries of longing. We are broken over the injustices of this world. We cry for Jesus to come and come quickly. How long, O Lord, until you return and put an end to all violence? How long before there’s no more no more warring nations or divisive personalities; no more sexual assaults or abuses of power? In the name of Christ Jesus, we pray that you would rid the world of racism, pride, abuse of authority, arrogance, indifference, sexual abuse, greed, and self-justification.

We thank you for those who long to see justice and peace here and now. We praise you for local and national governments that seek to rule justly. We thank you for men and women who seek to promote peace. We pray for the men and women on the front lines, those involved in the judicial process and those in legislative office, both local and national. And while we pray for these things, remind us our hope is not found here; it’s only found in Christ. We praise you the sure truth is in Jesus Christ. Cause us to always remember our hope must always be in the sovereign Lord who judges rightly.

Father, we know that hurt and suffering is not just out there, but also in here as some of our own deal with difficult circumstances. We pray for those who are grieving and hurting this morning. Give us the grace to weep with those who weep. Bind up the wounded; heal the sick; give rest to the weary.

We also ask for the grace to rejoice with those who are rejoicing. We praise you for the birth of M. Save her Lord at a very young age. Give N and I much grace as they learn how to be parents; grant them much wisdom and patience in these early days, and grant them perseverance for the days to come.

Father, for the glory of your name, we ask that you would use our church to make Jesus famous. Use our church body as a light for the gospel; help us be salt and light living faithfully unto Christ in gospel community. Fill us with your Spirit that we might bear witness about your glorious Son. May we herald the name of Jesus with boldness and joy. We pray that would happen not only among us here, but among the Spanish speakers in Columbia Heights. Lord, for the glory of your name, give us the resources and wisdom and grace to do this. We pray for the M family. Give A much wisdom and insight as he leads his family. Make it clear to them and to us what you would have us do. We thank you for their love for Christ and pray that you would continue to use them to exalt Jesus no matter where they are.