Good, good Father, we come to you this morning in the name of your son, our brother, Jesus Christ. We praise you that you are perfect Father; we praise you for your great compassion, everlasting love and steadfast faithfulness. You are perfect in all of your ways.

We praise you for the gift of children. This morning we praise you specifically for L, A and Hl. We rejoice in the precious gift of M, M, S, N, and N. We praise you for C, A, S, E, C and O. We bless your name for C, A, and E. Bring each of these children to faith at a young age that they will never know life apart from trusting in and greatly treasuring Jesus.

Grant these parents wisdom and grace and patience and self-control as they seek to raise their sons and daughters in the gospel of our Lord. We ask your blessing upon C & K, N & I, M & C, K & N, R & C, S & C, C & T, R & S, and myself & P.

Use not only these parents, but each and every covenant member to raise the children among us in the discipline and instruction of our Lord. Make the RKids classroom and homes and Community Groups places of fruit-bearing gospel soil. Shape and mold all of us through our children; remind us all of you, our perfect Father in heaven.

Father, we pray for those without fathers and mothers. We pray for DC127 – use this ministry to care for those in the foster care system in DC. Grant our members joy in serving alongside this ministry. Comfort those here this morning who find moments like this hard. Comfort those of us who have been taken advantage of by those who were supposed to act as fathers and mothers in their lives. Pour your grace out on those of us who grieve the loss of a father or mother. Lavish your everlasting love on those of us who desire to have children, but for some reason only known to you they cannot. Remind those of us who desire to be married so they can be a father or mother of your never-ending faithfulness.

Holy Spirit, minister to our inmost parts this morning. Whisper to the depths of our soul, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.” Bring us to the Living Water of Christ this morning. Whisper to the depths of our soul, “Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Remind us of our free redemption in Christ Jesus. Help us, O God, help us delight in the rich, soul-satisfying feast of Jesus Christ. Holy Spirit help us rest in the abundant pardon for our sin found in Jesus. Holy Spirit help us rejoice in the reconciliation we have with our Father in heaven. We plead with you, O Lord, help us understand and live in light of what it means that we are forever loved and cherished and honored by you.

We confess our sin freely this morning. We confess that we have lied and pursued romantic immorality. We confess that greed has gripped our heart and our lust has materialized itself in virtual fantasies while staring at a computer or phone screen. We confess sharp words toward our spouse. We confess we have disciplined our children out of anger and resentment. We confess our idols of comfort and efficiency worshipped at the expense of dismissing and marginalizing others. We confess our resentment toward the church, this church. We confess that we often try to pay off our sin before coming to you. We confess our gossip and our grumbling. We confess our self-righteous comparisons to make ourselves feel better. We repent, Lord. We repent of our sin against you. We repent of our sins against made in your image. Forgive us, we cry.

And we run to the cross. We run to the One who was pierced for our transgressions. We look to him as he was crushed for our iniquities. We rest in the Jesus who bore our sins. We praise you that he was willingly chastised that we might be cherished. We praise you that Jesus rose again that we might have life. Oh, what joyful news this is. Inflame our souls with a deep joy in Christ. Infuse our thoughts with gospel-soaked truths about who we are in Jesus. Holy Spirit, cause these truths to not be stale and academic, but sweet and precious.

Use us Lord. Use us to minister the gospel to one another. Give us the grace to speak compassionate, encouraging words to each other. Give us the grace to enter each other’s suffering and joys. Use us to advance the gospel in Washington, DC and beyond. Make us heralds of the good news of Jesus to our neighbors and the nations. For those here not trusting you this morning Lord, grant them faith in Jesus. Help them see satisfaction found in him alone. We pray for our brothers and sisters around the world who face physical persecution. Encourage them. Use their sufferings to advance the name of the suffering Servant, Jesus Christ. Thank you for your word. We praise you that it does not return void but restores and gives life. We pray all of this in the name of Jesus. Amen.