A Prayer for Saturday, May 16

Awesome God,
  You reign.
  You reign from on high, your throne surrounded by unapproachable light, your glory indescribable in words we can comprehend.  Lightning and thunder surround you, and all who are near bow down in worship, falling prostrate before the throne in awe and glory of you.
  From this power, love pours forth.  Love rains down and covers us, blotting out our imperfections through the blood of the lamb, washing away our sins, cleansing us so that we are counted as worthy to stand before the throne.
  Worthy!  You call us sons and daughters us God, in spite of the fact that we have tainted your name!  We have covered our birthright with the mud of our sin, and yet you have scrubbed every iota of dirt from our hands and our fingernails and our souls, sharing with us the glory that Christ deserves, so that you can reign with us forever and ever.
  You invite us into the Kingdom of God, an everlasting Kingdom where pain and suffering and sorrow and death and inequality and hatred cannot enter.  They stand outside, rattling their sabers, threatening us, unaware of their imminent demise, unaware that destruction will come for them as their intended victims share in the triumph over them.
  You are great, Lord, for when we stray from the path, when our commitment wavers, when our spirit lags, you send your Holy Spirit to inspire us, to strengthen and guide us, to orient our hearts to your true desires, to remind us everything that is good and holy and pure, and you strengthen the ties that bind us so that we might not be isolated and alone, but rather be caught up together in worship and service and love.
  Love pours forth from the throne, where you sit in majesty.  Uncontent to abandon your creations to the fate we deserve, you intervene and redeem us, offering your beloved and perfect Son as an offering to atone for human sin.  Even when we are ungrateful for this monumental act, you offer gratitude and life to all who believe.
  Love pours forth, covering us, rescuing us, preparing us.  Love pours forth.

Thank you.

Amen