Opening Prayers/Prayers of Adoration on Purity
to whom all hearts are open,
all desires known,
and from whom no secrets are hidden:
cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may love you completely,
and rightly magnify your holy name;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Collect for Purity
Inspired by 1 John 5:4-12 and John 20: 19-23
O God, our Father, in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus you have given us the remedy for sin. In him you have opened to us the way to forgiveness for all our past sins, and you have given us the strength and the power to live in purity and in truth.
Help us to put away all evil things.
Silence the evil word;
Forbid the evil deed;
Break the evil habit;
Banish the evil thought;
Take away the evil desire and the evil ambition;
and make our lives to shine like lights
in this dark world.
Help us to live in purity.
Make all our words so pure
that you may hear them;
Make all our deeds so pure
that you may see them;
Make all our thoughts and desires so pure
that they may bear your scrutiny.
And so grant that we being pure in heart
may see you.
Help us to live in truth.
Grant
That we may never speak or act a lie;
That we may never be misled by false or mistaken beliefs;
That we may never evade the truth,
even when we do not want to see it.
Grant to us at all times
To seek and to find;
To know and to love;
To obey and to live
the truth.
This we ask for the sake of him who is the Way, the Truth and the Life,
even for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
William Barclay, Prayers for the Christian Year, Harper Chapel Books, 1965
(Prayer of Adoration)
Lord, our Lord – How excellent is your name in all the earth.
Because of who you are – we praise You.
Because of what you’ve done – we thank You.
You are a Father to the fatherless.
the Strength of the weak,
the Protector of the powerless,
and an Advocate for the disenfranchised …
just in all your ways and righteous in all your judgments.
While those all around us spin facts and lie to us,
You alone speak clear, unvarnished truth.
While the love of most comes with small print and strings attached,
Your love is gracious, unfettered and free.
(Prayer of Confession)
Yet – when we encounter the light of Your purity, truth and glory,
we ourselves are revealed for who we are,
our shadow-sides are unmasked,
our motives laid bare
and we must confront what we’d rather hide or hide from.
However, we know your grace is sufficient for even that,
and Your mercy is lavish beyond imagination.
So we humbly come to you confessing our errors, faults and sins –
all of which are first degree –
Amen.
(Assurance of Pardon)
The love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting.
Nothing you do can make Him love you any less …
so free and gracious is His love;
And nothing you do can make Him love you any more …
so abundant and overwhelming is His love for you.
Because of His grace, mercy and love for us:
I declare to you
that by His grace active in your faith
in Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior –
you are forgiven all your sins;
and you are free
to live life in the joy and fullness of the Spirit
now and always. AMEN!