Gracious and benevolent Lord, whose providence is given without bias or prejudice, accept our most sincere gratitude for the country and history into which You have set us, and grant that Your good ness and our gratitude be yet more reason for striving to attain and to maintain the high purpose of our fathers and of our faith in this our land; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who with You and the Holy Spirit are one God with dominion over us forever. Amen
Holy Spirit, Builder and Keeper of the Kingdom of Grace, grant us, whom You have called into discipleship of Christ, a commitment strong enough to carry us to the death for Him if the necessity arises; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who with You and the Father are one God with dominion over us forever. Amen.
Gracious God, who effected our salvation through our Mediator and Advocate, bless us with courage and purpose to be proclaimers of the Good News of Jesus Christ to all the world and willing servants to every neighbor; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who with You and the Holy Spirit are one God with dominion over us forever.
Blessed Trinity, three Persons in one divine essence, stay near us continually maintaining the saving relationship in the fellowship You have established with us in Christ Jesus, lest we, left to ourselves, depart from you; who lives and reigns eternally, one God, with dominion over us forever.
When I think of the weather getting warm, I think back to playing happily with my cousins on the playground of Eugene Field School, an elementary school in my aunt and uncle’s neighborhood in Sioux Falls, S.D. The school was named after Eugene Field, an American writer who lived from 1850-1895 and was known for his children’s poetry and his humorous essays. One of his children’s poems is entitled “Krinken.” Field writes: “Krinken was a little child; It was summer when he smiled.”
Holy Spirit, to Whom is assigned the spread of the Good News of Jesus Christ and the election of people to the Kingdom of Grace, receive our thanksgiving for our faith and hope, through which by Your counsel and work we have committed our whole future to our gracious God; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Who with You and the Father are one God with dominion over us forever. Amen
Transcendent Christ, by Whose authority and power all created things exist, and under Whose dominion the holy Church has its being, keep us, Your people, in safety in the world and bless us whom You call beloved with all spiritual blessings; who with the Father and the Holy Spirit are one God with dominion over us forever. Amen
Holy Spirit, who opened the vision of the consummation of the Kingdom to Your ancient seer, increase our faith that we too might see the splendor of God and the glory of the Lamb, the light of the holy city, drawing us through life in time to life eternal; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who with You and the Father are one God with dominion over us forever. Amen.
Mighty God, enthroned in glory, Ruler of all good and evil, hasten the day when evil is defeated and all things are made new, that only praise and thanksgiving, unmixed with cursing and swearing, be tendered to You by all Your people; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who with You and the Holy Spirit are one God with dominion over us forever.
GOOD MORNING and welcome to the House of the LORD today! Today we turn our attention to our Epistle from Revelation chapter 7. Our Epistle concludes a longer vision about the suffering church. God’s people are treated as slaughter-sheep, suffering from war, pestilence, famine, and death. Such is part of our own experience in our world today! But it was to comfort the churches of Asia Minor and to comfort us, who also live under the cross of Jesus, that this vision was given to John while on Patmos. In the face of suffering and death and persecution, we can be very short-sighted as we endure such difficulty. Our endurance comes from faith in our Lamb, Jesus Christ, Who gives us believers the promise of eternal joy before God’s throne in endless worship of Him as our Lamb and Savior. God strength our faith and our endurance by His Word and Sacrament this morning! A Blessed Mother’s Day to you!