Psalm 43
October 26, 2025 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we worship you for who you are and what you’ve done. You are our infinite, loving creator, savior, and sustainer of the universe, that knows every one of us by name, hears our prayers, and reveals knowledge, truth, and understanding. In unity of the trinity you model perfect community and reveal your design for human beings to live in community together. On our own, our enemy satan tempts us, drags us down, and destroys us. Our community of the church reminds one another, and bears one another’s burdens, and unites us together as a whole body. We are thankful for creeds and our EFCA statement of faith that compiles these good communal instructions to help us remember our interdependency on you and one another.
We pray for our brothers and sisters around the world, and throughout history who have earnestly not neglected the instruction to gather together and share your good news, even in unstable and unsafe environments. We pray for our brothers and sisters in Asian countries like China, North Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Yemen. We pray for our brothers and sisters in middle Eastern countries like Iran. We pray for our brothers and sisters in African countries like Somalia and Libya. They are not just brothers and sisters, they are sons and daughters, grandchildren, parents, grandparents. We life them up in our prayers this morning. They invite people into their homes with not just the risk of people seeing their dirty dishes, messy floors, or dirty laundry. They open their doors to the threat of being arrested, imprisoned, tortured, publicly ridiculed, and separated. And though these threats and fears are real, they know your good news is even more real and more valuable than these temporary rags and our temporary homes.
We lift up our leaders in our local, state, and national government to you. We condemn the hateful and divisive speech that began with a policy and then became directed against people. We pray that our government leaders would be overcome with love for the people they serve. We pray that their speech and actions would reflect love for people and for the prosperity of people. When our hearts burn against other people prospering at the expense of the marginalized or at our own expense, may we follow the example of Christ and give up our resources, and give up our rights, and to take up our cross daily, and love the world and people He has created.
Help us to listen more and seek understanding. Forgive us for being quick to judge others’ statements and put them in a bin of “those other people.” May we follow your commands in Proverbs to seek understanding and seek wisdom. Help us to listen and see the other persons’ perspective as not one that simply opposes our values, it often values another person. May we as Christians see and love the value of all people, not just people with values that are the same as ours. May we love and value all people that you have created and are need of your good news, freedom, and protection from others that seek to destroy.