LeRoy G. Christoffels

This prayer is based on Psalm 40 and originally appeared as part of "In the Pit...WaitingA Lenten Service Based on Psalm 40" The following prayers of the people is split between three different prayer leaders. The specific prayers are not provided here but a week or more ahead of the service each prayer leader should be given the first line which provides the theme for their prayer.  Then each composes their own prayer. Prayer #1: "Help us, O God, to face temptations..."Sung Response"Before Thy People I Confess," st. 2 UnknownPrayer #2: "Give us victory over those who would destroy our families ..."Sung Response"Before Thy People I Confess," st. 4 Unknown.Prayer #3: "Lord, give us courage to face the enemies of your cross ..."Sung Response"Before Thy People I Confess," st. 5 UnknownPrayer #4:"Lord, give us courage to face the enemies of your cross ..."Reading: For Help Without DelayBut may all who seek yourejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvationsay continually "Great is the LORD!" As for me, I am poor arid needy,but the Lord takes thought for me.You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God.—Psalm 40:16-17Sung Response "As the Deer" NystromPrayerOur ever-present God, we can hardly wait for your help. Some of us are desperate. We love you, and we want your name to be honored. We fear that our enemies will hinder us or get in our way—or we may be our own worst enemies. Lord, help us to be glad, to rejoice with the psalmist, to have this new song in our hearts, to have our feet on the solid rock. Lord, think of us, remember us when you come into your kingdom. You are our help and our deliverer. O God, do not delay. We long for your presence, your love, your favor, your grace. Hear us through your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus. Amen.

Please join in the prayer of Daniel, who was keenly aware of the sins committed by the people of God in his own time. Pray on behalf of the church, often divided, lacking in truth, offering up empty hearts and deeds. Pray for God's mercy in these words borrowed from this great statesman and prophet:O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets who spoke in your name.Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame because of our unfaithfulness to you. O Lord, we are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. All [of us] have transgressed your law and turned away refusing to obey you. All this has come upon us, yet we have not sought the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from your city your holy hill.[from Daniel 9:4-16]O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets who spoke in your name.Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame because of our unfaithfulness to you. O Lord, we are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. All [of us] have transgressed your law and turned away refusing to obey you. All this has come upon us, yet we have not sought the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from your city your holy hill.[from Daniel 9:4-16]

The Book of Daily Prayer by Robert Webber. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1993. 532 pages. Cloth, $39.99; Paper, $24.99. A Call to Prayer: Public Worship Through the Christian Year ed. by Caryl Micklem. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1993.176 pages. $12.99.

My Song of Deliverance The Gathering of the People for Worship Organ Prelude "Invocation in A Minor" [Guilmant] "Air" [Handel] Introduction to the Service

In a funeral service, as in any service of worship, well-chosen music can aid sorrowing people to lift their hearts to the God of all comfort. The community of mourners unites in song to express its sorrow and grief to the Man of Sorrows, and to rejoice in the gift of life from the One who has died. In song the mourners express together the faith that is the foundation of their recovery and renewal in hopeful living.

Dear Emily, This was the first year we tried a sunrise service, and at first we thought it might draw only 25 people .We decide to go ahead anyway, and as we planed, more and more people got interest.When Easter morning finally arrived, we must have had about 80 people there, including some community people who had been contacted through our Coffebreak and Men's Life programs.

During the fall season many North American Christians attend two celebrations. One is a commemoration of the past—of the sixteenth-century Reformation of the Christian church. The other is a national celebration of thanksgiving—a day of praising God for the ways 1 which he has blessed us in the past and the present.