Merciful, gracious, compassionate Lord,
As you’ve drawn us here by the Holy Spirit we ask that you make this church a place of refuge, a place of renewal, a place of Gospel rest. Free us from the lie that we can and need to earn your favor and our righteousness before you. Graciously close every loophole of self-sufficiency we try to squeeze through. Close those loopholes so we may know only Christ alone and him crucified, and that it is by the gift of faith in Him and His works we are made righteous, not by our own.
King Jesus,
In a world churning with manufactured urgency and busyness, in a world overrun with moralistic scorekeeping, in a world steeped in self-righteousness of every flavor but lacking in confession and repentance, in a world long on condemnation but short on forgiveness, reach out your long arm of grace. A grace that is love that is gentle with a doubting heart. A grace that is love whose power is made perfect in our weakness. A grace that is love that seeks us out when we have nothing to give in return. A grace that loves us so much, that you took on flesh and entered your creation as one of us, so that from the cross and through the empty tomb you might save us.
Reach out your long arm of grace, a grace that speaks, “Rest. Be comforted. Stop trying to save yourselves, I have already done it. It is finished.”
All this, we pray in your mighty name,
AMEN.