You alone are worthy to be praised. May your name and your glory be the goal of our attention this morning as we sing and pray and give. In every breath we take and every word we speak this morning, may you be honored and magnified so that we all come to love you more and more and we better recognize that you are at the center of everything that we are.  

As we just sang, help us to recognize that in everything we do and in every place that we go, you are there. 

When we rise up or lie down, you are there. If we go to the highest mountain or down to its deepest roots, you are there. There is no deep sea we can flee to, no distant land we can run to, no far star we can fly to, no room where we can run to and close the door where you are not there.  

There is no private moment we can keep from you. Every thought we have, every action we take, you know before we think it or do it. Nothing in our minds is kept from you, nothing in our hearts is hidden from your spirit. Every wrong attitude, every evil thought is laid bare before your eyes.  

We deserve judgment, yet you are gracious. 

We are lawbreakers, yet you atone. 

We are vile, yet you cleanse. 

When we pray to you, you hear. 

When we are in distress, you come to us. 

When we plead for help, you condescend to answer.  

When we are discontent, you are patient with us. 

When we repent again and again, you forgive. 

We know that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents from calamity when people repent. You alone are worthy of our praise. 

Amen.