Written by Caleb Buddemeyer
Oh Lord, we need You.
We have come to this place to find you. We worship you with our voices and with our presence, and we seek Your great and powerful Presence, we long for Your words of life. Some of us meet You rejoicing, feeling You close, seeing Your handiwork evident in our lives. Some of us meet You in sorrow, broken down and confused in our circumstances, overwhelmed by how far off You feel. Some of us meet You without knowing whether You really are here at all. Yet we are all here, and we come to meet You.
Lord lift us up. We are sinful people in need of Your righteousness. We are violent people in need of Your peace. We are ruthless people in need of Your forgiveness. We are troubled people in need of Your calm. We are lonely people in need of Your friendship. We are chained people in need of Your freedom. We are exhausted people in need of Your rest. We are abandoned people in need of Your faithfulness. We are broken down, and the terrors and shame of the world will destroy us if You do not rescue us.
Lord make us strong. Our world is in desperate need of healing work that You have invited us into. You have called us Your Body, so equip us mightily for acts of holy love. Give us Your strength and courage to speak Your prophetic words, to embrace those others have cast aside, to love selflessly, to trample down every particle of death and darkness as we spread Your Light and Life.
Lord let us know Your love. This love, we trust, is beyond our bounds, beyond our reckoning. There is no shrewd comparison or clever metaphor by which we can wrap our heads around it. We know that Your love is the kind that doesn't scare off, that doesn't account for worthiness, that isn't self-protective, that is more passionate than we can fathom; that is actually rather foolish. Remind us that Your love for us is wild and unconditional. Inspire us with this love, that we may love You with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and that we may love our neighbor as ourselves.
Oh Lord -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- we need You. Yet in the end our words are not enough, so we pray the prayer that Jesus taught us:
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 trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.