To See Beyond

Eternal God, our Father, we thank you on this Father's Day that we can call you Father--our Father. From you has come our life and our love and our redemption. We praise you; we worship you; we give thanks to you for your great glory.

We are ashamed of the poverty of our own living. We have brought reproach on you and our fellow man. We can only pray that you will wash us clean with your forgiving grace. We have so often asked forgiveness for Christ's sake. This is our only sufficient plea. We cannot ask because we are worthy or because we have done enough good to earn your love. We can only ask forgiveness for Christ's sake--for the sake of Him who knew no sin.

"There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin;
He only could unlock the gates of heaven and let us in.
O dearly dearly has He loved, and we must love Him, too,
And trust in His redeeming blood and try His works to do."

We pray that you will come to us in a special way. May anyone overborne with earthly care and sorrow learn how to cast their burden on you and trust your constant care. And may any who are being called on to look closely into the face of death or bereavement know that the sting has been removed from death and victory from the grave by our conquering Lord.

Hear our every prayer, O Lord, spoken and unspoken. Awaken us from our sleep of carelessness and unconcern about the plight of our world and help us to care. Help us to care about war and poverty and injustice and hopelessness and despair; help us to care about Thy people who suffer. And right here where we live, give us eyes to see behind the walls of prisons and hospitals and nursing homes. Make us more disciplined in the use of our time, our money and our talents; and may we hear our Lord saying to us again as we seek for happiness and meaning in life: "He who saves his life shall lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake and the Gospel's shall find it." All our prayers are said in His name. Amen