Please find below the notes from the Elder's Prayer this past Sunday

There is no one in heaven or earth like you – in holiness, in righteousness, in wisdom, in knowledge, in love, in grace.  

You shatter the mighty. You strengthen the weak. Those who were full, you make hungry. Those who were needy, you satisfy. 

You created us in your image, created us to walk with you, to have fellowship with you, to have fellowship with each other, created us to display your glory in your creation through our thoughts and our words and our actions. 

Yet we sinned and our minds became shrouded in darkness. In our natural state, our thoughts, our words, our actions, our desires were all governed by, dominated by, our sin.  

We followed our own hearts, seeking to satisfy ourselves, but never seeing how desperate we really were. Our works that we thought were good were not truly good, not in the way that they needed to be. Our thoughts slaves to our sinful natures. Who we were and what we were doing were simply leading us to destruction.  

But you shed light in our darkness. You illumined our minds so that we could see the folly of our thinking, our desires, and our actions.  

You opened our eyes to see that we were sinners, and that nothing we could ever do would atone for those sins, that we have no righteousness of our own that would allow us to stand before you. 

Your light helped us to recognize and know the love that you have for us. Even though we were unrighteous, you loved us. Even though we were proud, arrogant, boastful fools, you loved us enough to make yourself truly known to us, known in a saving and sustaining way. 

You raise the poor from the dust, you lift the needy from the ash heap, you give them a seat of honor. And that love of yours is a love that will never end. 

When we settle for the things of this world, your love remains. When we fall into sin, your love is sure. When we go through times of sorrow, darkness, and pain, your love gives us joy, peace, strength. Your love keeps us near you. 

Those who contend with the Lord will be shattered; against them he will thunder in the heavens, the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.  

But for those he loves - he forgives, he restores, he sustains. For those he loves, his grace never fails. For those he loves, he never leaves them. 

Amen.