Lord, indeed our sins are many, but your mercy is more. You are rich in love, patience and kindness towards sinful, rebellious people. You are united in your character as one in three, perfectly loving from before time began. We praise you Lord, for you are good. We sing to your name, for it is pleasant. We praise you that you chose a people for your own possession. You are great and are far above all other things we may be tempted to worship. You are sovereign in your will and sovereign over the majesty of changing seasons. We praise you for the beauty of changing colors in the leaves, and the way you have ordered your creation throughout the year. You were sovereign to free your people from slavery to sin through the death of your firstborn, just as you freed your people from slavery in Egypt. You are the God of nations and you build up and strike down rulers and authorities. Your name endures forever, your renown, O Lord throughout all ages. You are full of compassion on your people, uniting those who were strangers and aliens to be members of your household, building them into a holy temple to magnify your name.

Lord, we confess that we don’t always act like a people united into one household.  We are inclined to show love to people with whom we have much in common while neglecting to love our brothers and sisters that we have nothing in common with apart from Christ.  We harbor attitudes of racism in our hearts and actions. We proudly consider ourselves better than others instead of emulating Christ who came to earth not to be served, but to serve.  We love to glorify ourselves but are so slow to think of your glory.

Thank you Lord that you sent Christ into this world to pay the penalty that our sins rightly deserved.  And thank you for new life in Christ, freeing us from being slaves to our sin.

Lord, we pray for the victims of the shootings in Pittsburgh and Louisville yesterday. Our hearts cry out for justice against the perpetrators of such violence, and we pray for wisdom, integrity and diligence for the authority figures involved with these events, that they would administer justice well. We pray that you would return soon to bring a new heaven and new earth without racism or shootings. We pray for an end to anti-semitism and white supremacism. We pray that you would work in the hearts of all people who desire to carry out racial violence and show them the error in their ways. We pray also for the families of those who lost their lives yesterday. We pray for your peace and comfort as they grieve. We pray that you would surround them with people that would image your love and be a help to them. We pray that you would use these acts of evil for good, that you would use it to show those who speak in racially inflammatory ways the consequences of their words and call them to repentance, that you would give the families of victims the strength to image you in radical forgiveness, and that you would draw people to yourself.  We pray also for the wounded, for safe and speedy recoveries, and for those who were present and uninjured physically but suffer psychological scars from what they’ve seen. Show them your love and comfort them Lord.

Thank you that your sent your son to reconcile your enemies to you and in so doing reconcile them to each other.  Thank you that you are a God of justice, and that even as we grieve over loss of life and the brokenness of our world, that you grieve all the more, and that you did not just grieve from afar, but entered in to our brokenness in order to bring peace.

We pray that you would make Restoration Church a beacon of unity in a world that seeks to divide.  We thank you for the many ways in which our church has diversity of people being brought together by the gospel and we pray for increased diversity, and increased unity among those who the world might expect to be divided, that we would vividly demonstrate your power to unite those that would not otherwise be united.  We pray also for the churches in Pittsburgh. We pray that you would enable them to love their Jewish neighbors in their community well. We pray that Central Church of Pittsburgh, H2O Church, Renaissance Church, River City Church and the other churches near Tree of Life Synagogue would act out your love in their communities and preach your gospel faithfully.

Lord, we ask that you would glorify your name in Washington DC, in Pittsburgh, in Louisville, and throughout the world.  Hasten the day of your return we pray. In Jesus name, amen.