Opening Prayers/Prayers of Adoration on Kingdom of God
Reign and Rain Down
Reign and Rain down, Glorious One
Salvation flows from your side
Living water to our desert
to our frail clay
to our dust
Creation flows from you
New life springing up
Hope and wholeness
Budding and blooming in our wasteland
Flood us and fill us, King of kings
Let all the earth drink of you
Quenched with the fullness of your victorious love. Amen.
Reign and Rain Down © 2019, updated 2023 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia, www.revlisad.com
Prayer of Adoration, based on Isaiah 6
Transcendent Lord,
in the midst of ordinary days
draw us to your wonder and majesty,
to fall on our knees and cry, “Glory!”
May we tremble, knowing how deeply you know us and love us
The fierceness of a tsunami does not compare to your passion for us
and for the salvation of all things.
Holy! Holy! Holy!
Blessed be your name forever!
Amen!
Prayer of Adoration, based on Isaiah 6 © 2023 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia, www.revlisad.com
Receive our Rejoicing, an Opening Prayer for Christ the King Sunday
Lord God, King of all Creation
Ruler of planets and peoples
Receive our rejoicing
For your abiding presence and redemptive return
Receive our shouts of gladness
For your justice, your fairness, your truth victorious
Strengthen and inspire
So we may persevere in proclaiming and praise
We labor and yearn for your glorious day
Your kingdom come
Your will be done
Amen
Receive Our Rejoicing © 2019 Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia, www.revlisad.com
You, oh Christ, are the Kingdom of Heaven;
You, the land promised to the gentle;
You the grazing lands of paradise;
You, the hall of the celestial banquet;
You, the ineffable marriage chamber;
You the table set for all,
You the bread of life;
You, the unheard of drink;
You, both the bowl for the water
and the life-giving water;
You, moreover, the inextinguishable lamp
for each one of the saints;
You, the garment and the crown
and the one who distributes crowns;
You, the joy and the rest;
You, the delight and glory;
You the gaiety;
You, the mirth;
and Your grace, grace of the Spirit of all sanctity,
will shine like the sun in all the saints;
and You, inaccessible sun,
will shine in their midst
and all will shine brightly,
to the degree of their faith,
their asceticism,
their hope
and their love,
their purification
and their illumination
by Your Spirit.
Symeon the New Theologian, English version by George A. Maloney, S.J.
Heavenly Father, blessed Son, eternal Spirit,
We adore you as one Being, one Essence,
one God in three distinct Persons,
for bringing sinners to the knowledge of you and your kingdom.
O Father, you have loved us and sent Jesus to redeem us;
O Jesus, you have loved us and taken on our nature,
You who shed your own own blood to wash away our sins,
Who worked righteousness to cover our unworthiness;
O Holy Spirit, you have loved use and entered our hearts,
implanted there eternal life,
revealed to us the glories of Jesus.
Three Persons and one God, we bless and praise you,
for love so unmerited, so unspeakable, so wondrous,
so mighty to save the lost and raise them to glory.
O Father, we thank you that in fullness of grace
You have given me to Jesus,
to be his sheep, jewel, portion;
O Jesus, we thank you that in fullness of grace
You have accepted, supported, bound us;
O Holy Spirit, we thank you that in fullness of grace
You have exhibited Jesus as our salvation,
implanted faith within us,
subdued our stubborn hearts,
made us one with him forever.
O Father, you are enthroned to hear our prayers,
O Jesus, your hand is outstretched to take our petitions,
O Holy Spirit, you are willing to help our sufferings,
to show us our need, to supply words, to pray within us,
to strengthen us that we do not faint in our supplication.
O Triune God, who commanded the universe,
You have commanded us to ask for those things
that concerns your kingdom and our souls.
Let us live and pray as one baptized into the threefold Name.
Taken from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, ed. Arthur Bennett (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1975), 3. Language modernized for corporate worship by Stuart Strachan Jr.
Adapted from 1 Chronicles 29:10-13, NIV
Praise be to you, O LORD,
God of our father Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.
Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.
Now, our God, we give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name.
Blessed Lord, who puts down the mighty from their seat and exalts those who have been humbled: Save us, we implore you, from pride and arrogance, from self-seeking and false ambition. Give us a humble and contrite spirit, that we may think less of ourselves, more of others, and most of all of you, who are our mighty God and Saviour; to whom with you and the Holy Spirit we ascribe all praise and glory, now and for evermore.
Frank Colquhoun, Parish Prayers, Language adapted for Modern Worship by Stuart Strachan Jr.
(Prayer of Adoration)
Lord—you’re sufficient in everything.
You can create without us; save without our assistance;
bring good out of evil, hope from despair and restore what
we mess up. You’re sovereign and we’re not.
Yet, and this boggles my mind –
You invite us to join with You as partners in Your work! You first make us joint heirs with Jesus
and then co-laborers in Your kingdom.
Imagine that – we’re privileged to make a difference
in Your world, in your church
and in the lives of people you love so much
you gave your Son for them.
It can’t get much better than that! …
(Prayer of Confession)
But, Father – we confess we’re not satisfied.
You invite us to serve you and to serve with you –
and we want to be served by you and others.
You honor us as your children – calling us by name in love;
and we use your name flippantly and loosely.
You empower us to be your followers –
but we use power for ourselves, pushing You aside.
You give us your wisdom in Scripture and by Your Spirit –
and we think we know better
how to run our lives and your world.
Forgive us! Forgive our foolish arrogance and pride.
Forgive us for taking your gifts intended for others
and using them for ourselves.
Forgive us for forgetting who we are
and whose we are as Christian people.
Forgive the selfishness of our hearts
and the selfishness of our actions.
Forgive it all, and more – and make us more like Jesus
in our thinking, our feeling, our speaking and in our acting.
Please, Lord Jesus; in whose name we pray—AMEN.
(Assurance of Pardon)
As the apostle announced – The mystery of godliness of great: The Son of God appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world and taken up into glory—all for our salvation. For this is a trustworthy saying worthy of full acceptance: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, like you & me. Dear Friends – because that’s true: by His grace active through your faith in Jesus Christ as Lord & Savior, I declare w/ confidence you’re forgiven and free of all your sins. Alleluia! Amen.