Heavenly Father, We praise you the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth. You have never abandoned your Creation. You have set your plans and purposes in place from the beginning. You have persisted in the revelation of your glory. You are the origin of all life, all truth, and all love. Thank you for the grace that has brought us into your communion — the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Thank you for revealing your life and love in Jesus Christ your Son.
He is before us and so we praise you.
He is after us and so we aim our lives at Him. We know every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord to your glory forever and ever.
You are also present with us: Our good shepherd, the lover of our souls, the author and perfecter of our faith, the God who sees us and the God who saves us.
You are with us in our tears. We have lost the illusion of invincibility.
You are with us in our fears. We have lost the thin promises of our self-designed security.
O Immanuel — God with us. Our only assurance — you are behind us and before us and above and below us all the days of our lives. You are our hope.
Grant your church courage today to rumble with the offences carried out by those who draped themselves in the banner of Jesus. Grant us wisdom to acknowledge our own weakness, to mourn with those who mourn and to hear the account of misapplied power and position from those who survived.
Lord we lift up your servants serving in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. We pray that you would grant them joy in their life with you and with your people. Sustain them Lord, in this seemingly never-ending press against the powers and principalities sucking the life out of people. These are our sons and daughters, parents and elders who suffer so but there are also glimpses of your Spirit there and we pray that the beauty and glory of Jesus Christ would shining through.
And so we pray together in Jesus Name as He taught us. (Please join me in the Lord’s Prayer)
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one;
for yours is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever.
Amen.