Opening Prayers/Prayers of Adoration on Righteousness
Almighty Father, giver of every good and perfect gift, who has made the light of your truth shine in our hearts: Make us to walk as children of light in all goodness and righteousness, that we may have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
W. Walsham How, Language adapted for Modern Worship by Stuart Strachan Jr.
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.
(Prayer of Adoration)
Holy God of light and glory:
You alone are good.
You alone are pure and righteous.
And, therefore,
You alone are worthy of our praise,
our devotion and honor.
In the brilliance of Your light,
we are revealed as we are and
left speechless … without excuse;
were it not for Your grace and mercy
we are hopeless as well.
(Prayer of Adoration)
Seeing who we really are,
we can hide no longer behind our bravado,
our rationalizations and our protests.
We confess that we are sinners
in need of your forgiveness.
As individuals and as a body.
we therefore join our hearts and voices to pray
together confessing our sins …
(time of silence) AMEN.