9. März 2020
Listen, God, you who said you would listen a sinner’s prayer. We come, this morning, truly as sinners, each and every one, and all of us are sinners together. // We come as true children of Adam and Eve, deciding that we, too, will do things our way. And doing things our way we come with lives twisted and warped. We see what we’ve done to ourselves and we abhor it. Yet we must come to you just as we are. So, Lord, we come seeking unity, mercy, while mercy may be found. // With our relation with you broken, we are alienated within ourselves. We, who should love ourselves with a healthy love, detest ourselves and are sick inwardly. // Detesting ourselves, we cannot truly love our fellow human beings, so we live in wretched human relations. // We throw ourselves on your grace, seeking your forgiveness. In your forgiving, enable us to have peace with ourselves. With inner peace, may we have reconciliation with our human associates. // Truly, Lord, may we find mercy while mercy is to be found. And may we live in such ways that others may see Christ in us and seek to know the joys of fellowship with him. // This prayer comes from the depths of our hearts in the name of Jesus. Amen and amen.
Clinton Marsh, Knoxville (1916-2002)