It is right to give our thanks and praise. It’s right for what it does to get your mind off your troubles. It’s right because there is good and evil in this world, and we want to increase the good. It is right like drinking more water and getting more sleep is right; it replenishes and nourishes the soul.
We give our thanks and praise with singing, fellowship, devotion, service, words, sermons inspiration, and prayer. Life is an act of worship when you take it in with all the joy and sorrow and everything that makes it so rich.
Last night we had our 4th COMMUNITY PRAYER & PRAISE service. Music City West brings together local churches for times of song and prayer. Leaders bring pastoral prayers with specific focus. One prays for the world, the migrants, the troubled countries. One prays for our nation. One prays for our communities and families. One prays for the broken. Congregation members read scriptures.
We’d like to send a special thank you to Rev. Marie King and the good people of Mt. Pisgah United Methodist Church for sharing their facility, talent, and heart with us. Thank you also to Rev. Lynn Patterson pastor of Liberty United Methodist, and to our Midsouth Naz District Superintendent, Dr. Dwight Gunter.
Dr. Gunter sent a prayer to open the service, adapted from The Lord’s Prayer to speak God’s grace and mercy into our current culture. I think I’ll keep praying it. Maybe you will too.
Our Father… who is the High King of Heaven, may Your Name be recognized as Holy. May Your ethos permeate our lives and our culture here in the world around us just as Your ethos fills the Kingdom of Heaven. May Your will be perfectly followed throughout the earth just as it is throughout the Kingdom of Heaven. Provide for us this day exactly what we need for this day. Forgive us when we violate the boundaries you established for our own health and well-being in the same way we forgive people who violate our boundaries. Lead us not into the time of testing, but when we are in the time of testing, protect us from the one who is the personification of evil. You alone deserve to reign in our lives. You alone have the ultimate power over everything. You alone deserve all the glory, both now and forever! Amen!
May this event be filled with the awareness of the presence of Jesus who will one day gather His entire family in His Kingdom.
Keep the Faith — Share the Faith,
Dwight
Love to all,
Pastor Kim