David Westerfield

Lord You manifested Yourself in signs and wonders throughout history, you made your words, testimonies, statutes, laws, and your promises known to Your people through Your prophets, and in time the last of Your prophets, John the Baptist, proclaimed that the greatest and final Prophet had come into the world in order to prepare them for His arrival. It is through Jesus, our great Prophet, Priest and King, that the final Word from God to man was made known to us in a Person for the sake of our salvation. It is through Him, the Lamb of God, offered for our sins, that we have come into the joy of being freed from slavery to sin and its resulting punishment, and welcomed into Your very throne room as Your children who sit at Your feet to learn from and enjoy You. And by Your Spirit You have come to make Your own home within us as a down payment, a guarantee of our inheritance with You. Would You enable us to cherish Christ in our thoughts, words and actions and behold Him ourselves, in our hearts as the Lamb of God who came into the world, that we might find in Him our greatest delight and be deeply satisfied now and for all eternity, chasing away the idols and desires of the world that press in upon us.

Stir up Your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let Your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with You and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and forever. Amen. (BCP)

Father You are the God who ran after us as the father ran after the prodigal son upon returning to him, who had squandered everything. We are those Lord who have lived in a far off country, living lives opposed to You and those who have been made alive by Your Spirit and not begrudgingly welcomed into Your kingdom but actually rejoiced in by You. When we were obstinently opposed to You, You died for us Lord Jesus because that is Your heart and we are your reward. While we were still in our sin and the shame and guilt that results, You bore our burden upon the cross by willingly exposing Yourself to utter shame and the eternal guilt that was owed to us. When we were guilty, through Your life, death, and the resurrection, you counted us righteous. You are our Father, and through Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit, we are Your children. Would you grow us into maturity in our faith, that we would increasingly see the connection between our belief in You as our Lord and Savior and are life actions and choices made in response. Father would you give us rest to find our joy and peace in the finished work of Your Son? Would You enter into the deep recesses of our hearts where we are spun up and anxious and following the never-ending busy pattern of the world and slow down long enough to drink deep from the well of Your never-ending streams of gracious water provided for us by Your Son. Would you draw near to us? Apart from You we are helpless, frail, broken and wandering. Abiding in You, we are helped, strengthened, healed and brought home to rest in You.

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP)

Father, it is in Your kindness and goodness that in looking upon us with compassion in our low, sinful state, You chose to make yourself known to us. Though we were blinded by our own sin and the darkness of our hearts and understanding, You broke through in making Yourself known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And to Moses you made yourself known as the great I AM. You revealed to him the very essence of your name, that before anything was, you were there, uncreated, self-sustaining from all eternity. You are before all other gods, You are the One from whom everything came into being, spoken into existence from nothing. We worship you together as the great I AM, who was and is and is to come, revealed finally and ultimately and most clearly in Your Son, Jesus. He is the great I AM made known to us in flesh, who is not only our creator but our redeemer and the sustainer of our lives at this moment, the One whom will get to rejoice in for all eternity.

Almighty God, by triumphing over the powers of darkness Christ has prepared a place for us in the new Jerusalem: may we, who have this day given thanks for his resurrection, praise him in the eternal city of which he is the light; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP)