Almighty, and merciful God,
As each new day dawns, grant us comfort in you. Grant us the comfort that whatever the age, your children are in your hands, the One who is the beginning and the end. The One who opens the door to eternal life, the door that no one can shut.
Lord,
You draw us to you and confront us with your Word. You draw us to you and comfort us with your Word. You draw us to you and confront us with our sin that we may be comforted by your grace. You draw us to you and we are confronted and comforted with the cross.
In Christ, lifted on the perch of the cross, we see the frailty of our own lofty perch.
Our own towering pride, nailed to the tree.
Our arrogant elevation of our own self-sufficiency, nailed to the tree. Our misplaced belief that we build yourkingdom by playing the world’s game of moralistic scorekeeping and cultural domination, nailed to the tree.
Our belief in and pursuit of our own kingdoms and our own righteousness, nailed to the tree.
King Jesus,
On the cross You have taken all of our pride, all of our idolatry, all of our unbelief, all of our insufficient works, all of our sin as your own. Kill us anew, Lord, that you might make us alive again in you. By your mercy we are crucified with you, so that in you we have your resurrection life.
Repent us Lord, with the assurance that your Kingdom is at hand in the proclamation of the Gospel, in the waters of baptism, and in your body and blood from the altar to our bodies and to our souls. And rest us Lord, in the truth that you are the God of our salvation yesterday, today, and forever.
AMEN.