Our Gracious God,
We do not take it lightly that through Christ, we are ushered into your presence
and into a divine audience with the Living God.
We have exalted your most holy name, and rendered to you the honor
that is your due.
We have acknowledged before you and before one another that we are incapable
of living perfectly and that it is upon the merits of Christ alone that we rely for our salvation.
Now, we come before you to name the cares and the concerns that attend our minds and hearts.
We pause to remember the catastrophic events that happened in New York, Washington DC, and Stony Creek Township on this day fifteen years ago—when planes were turned into weapons and innocent blood was needlessly shed.
We pray for the families of those who lost their lives that day—2,996 of them—and in the days that followed. Attend them with your peace, we pray.
We pray for those who survived this great tragedy—whose lives since have been spent coming to terms with what happened that day. Comfort them, we pray, and heal their wounds.
We recall and honor the first responders who willingly gave their lives so that others might live.
Remind us of the motto of the Reformation—post tenebras lux—after the darkness comes light.
Remind us that, in the words of William Cowper, “behind a frowning providence he hides a smiling face.”
And now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to say:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever. Amen.
Jeff Gissing 