Today’s Teaching
Easter Testimonies
The Pastoral Prayer
Written by Jason Little (Elder at Grace Fellowship)
Lord, How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you. And we rejoice - even in our isolation - because you keep watch on the nations.
Lord, this resurrection Sunday finds us in a different place than what we’re used to. But you have not changed. We did not expect that we would be scattered to our homes, isolated from one another, unable to embrace our brothers and sisters, and to clearly hear our voices as one as we sing praise to our risen Lord. But you have not left us alone. And you hear us.
And because of the probability of losing power today, and thus disrupting what would have been an afternoon celebration - disconnecting us from one another - it’s even a different time than our usual meeting. And yet we’re reminded that neither viruses, nor storms, nor isolation, nor shelter-in-place orders, nor exhaustion, nor stress, nor fear, nor death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
For many of us life has changed significantly in the last few weeks. But you, Lord, remain unchanged. Your steadfast love endures forever. And today - this day - this is the day when we, your church, celebrate. Our resurrected Lord and King, our great Savior Jesus Christ has overcome all these things for our sake and for your glory. And he rules over the storms coming toward us and the virus coursing through the world. Today and tomorrow he lives and reigns. Lord, in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling. But our resurrection is sure because our Savior is alive!
And so Lord, we pray that our enemy and the powers of darkness would know a very specific defeat today. And we pray that our brothers and sisters all over the world would know a very specific victory today. Preserve and increase your church. Let light and life and joy and celebration prevail in the name of our risen Lord Jesus. Amen