Heavenly Father, God omnipresent, your most precious promise has always been to be with those who do your will. That assurance gives us comfort and courage. We know we can succeed in this Christian life because you walk with us, support us, encourage us, uphold us.

Lord, we recognize it as the promise for all times, for all places, for all peoples, for all states of mind and work. And it is this promise of your presence we most desire, for Jesus came to bring us back to you. Amen.

[Pertinent passages: Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5,6; 1 Peter 3:18]

God who created man's capacity to communicate and his many languages, you brought us your Son who showed us your person in terms we could understand. Jesus taught us your words, and only those. He spoke in language even the unlearned and ignorant could understand.

In our interactions with others, may we speak plainly and simply, from other people's frame of reference, in order that they may comprehend the truth. Bring others to appreciate the gospel because we speak their language. Just as Jesus spoke ours. Amen.

Lord, you are the ultimate reality in this universe, so much so that your name is "I Am Who I Am." Our perceptions are limited, our conclusions, partial, our understanding, fallible. So we are cheered that you reveal to us your nature, the essence of this life, the truth in "real time."

As philosophies shift, and knowledge debunks old theories, and ideas substitute previous notions, let us find our solid ground in your character shown in Scripture.

You are our light, Lord. Some people want so much to see beyond human senses, they search after out-of-the-body experiences or so-called near-death sensations. All we need, O God, is your word and Jesus' testimony, for only he has come from heaven to pull back the curtain into eternity. Amen.

Father of all, you gave us this earth as our home and bid us exercise dominion over creation. You sent your Son to earth, and Jesus walked among us. He entered people's homes and people's joys and sorrows.

You have sent us, too, from house to house, to share with people, where they are. Put us in those living rooms, around their kitchen table, at the sick bed. May we enter into people's lives, in order to share the good news of your presence.

So, Lord, get us away from the television; pull us away from our affairs; extract us from our excuses, to put us at our neighbor's doorstep. Because Jesus came to ours. Amen.

Sovereign God who defies our imagination, nothing is impossible with you. We look at our circumstances, at our heart's hidden sins, at our ingrained habits, at the world's resistance to the gospel truth, and wonder how can things ever be different than they are. Even though it seems impossible to us, who know you best as your people in this world, you remind us that it doesn't seem impossible to you, the Lord of hosts.

Act, then, Lord, beyond our most cherished dreams, outside of our deepest hopes, past our wildest imagination, to bring to pass your will and transform not only our hearts and hands and tongues, but our world as well, to draw out from it a people who grow ever stronger, ever greater, ever more powerful in your Spirit and confident in your Son. Because he did the impossible. Amen.

[Pertinent passages: Zec. 8:6, NRSV]