Father,
We thank you for being good to us and continually giving us your loving attention. You have so often brought us out of trouble and so when we gather, we talk about what you have done with one another and come to give thanks to you in prayer.
Some of us have had times of great loneliness and need. But you are the one who satisfies the longings of our soul and gives good things to those who are hungry. You answer us when we pray to you and so we thank you for your love and the wonders that you have often done on our behalf.
Some of us have had times of great difficulty because of our rebellion against you, when we have not lived according to your words and counsels - getting ourselves into a situation where we seem trapped. But you are the one who can rescue us from places where no one else can help. We thank you for often restoring us to safety out of impossible situations.
Some of us, through foolishness and sin, have brought on ourselves the suffering of sickness. You are the one who brings healing, even if the fault does lie with us. When we call to you in our trouble, you deliver us and we are delighted by your faithful love.
Some of us have been in danger of being completely overwhelmed by the difficulty of life - acknowledging you in all our ways and seeing the power of your work in the world, yet still having our courage melted away by crushing forces all around us. Yet, when we call to you in our trouble, you rescue us, because your hand controls all that is more powerful than us. You bring us, in the end to a place of good.
Father, we ask that you would supply daily bread for each household here at Royal York. What we need is not difficult for you to supply because everything belongs to you. We know that you value us more highly than the birds and yet you take care of them. So please see our needs and take care of us too. Please give us restful peace and joy as we trust in your future provision.
Father we pray on behalf of the government of Canada, that you would direct each public meeting and private consultation toward the advancement your glory, the good of your church, and the safety and flourishing of Canadians, and that all things arranged by their efforts may tend toward the establishment of peace and happiness, truth and justice, faith and virtue.
We come to you as sons and daughters to a father, not because we first loved you, but because you first loved us and bought our adoption with the sufferings and death of your perfect son. Thank you for cleansing us from our sin. As you have removed from us the guilt of sin, continue to remove from us our sinful thoughts and actions by the sanctifying work of your Spirit. We look forward to that day when we will be with Jesus, our Older Brother, and see the glory that you have given him.