Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

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ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
Sunday, September 1, 2019

Readings:
Lesson: 1 Kings 8:22-43
Psalm: 62
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Gospel: Luke 18:9-17

ADORATION
Almighty God, I praise You because my salvation, my wholeness comes from You. You do not let me fall, but rather You uphold me in Your truth and love. You rescue me from those who delight in lies and curse in their hearts. I wait upon You. My hope is in You. You are my health and well-being, my glory and and my strength. I do not set my heart on riches, but I pour it out before You, for where my heart is, there my treasure will be also. You speak in my heart continually, declaring that real power and strength belong to You, and so anything apart from You is empty and void. You are mercy and compassion. You meet me where I am, and reward me according to how I respond to You in faith.

CONFESSION
Father, King Solomon stood before Your altar, lifted his hands toward heaven, and dedicated the Temple to You. I confess that I do not dedicate the temple of my mind to You as I ought. I fill it with graven images that do not belong there. I do not guard my behavior, nor follow You as I ought. Solomon prayed that You would watch over the Temple day and night, for You said ‘My Name will be there.’ I need You to watch over my mind continually, for You have said, ‘I am with you always.’ Unless You build my house, my work and labor on it is wasted and lost. You alone know my heart and my mind. Do not reward me according to what I deserve, but hear from heaven where You live, and forgive.

THANKSGIVING
Holy Spirit, I thank You for all Your faithful people who have declared Your saving Good News. I thank You that I am part of a centuries-long chain of faith, beginning with those who saw Your truth with their own eyes, and thereafter experienced new and risen life. I thank You for the cloud of witnesses which surrounds me in history, in the present, and in Scripture. Above all, I thank You for the impartiality of Your grace. You leave no one out, but You call the least and undeserving, even those who persecute and harm others. You empower everyone to work for Your own good purposes. Anyone can be an example of Your love and forgiveness, and can bring others into Your fold of faith.

SUPPLICATION
Lord Jesus Christ, You told the story of the self-righteous Pharisee and the humble publican as a warning to those who trust in themselves. I ask You to show me where I trust more in myself and less in You. I pray You to reveal to me where I compare myself to others, making myself better than them. Teach me where I have made my devotion to You more complex than it should, to recognize when “God be merciful to me, a sinner” is more important than fasting twice in the week. But most of all, I ask You to show me where else I need humility. I cannot lift myself up, but I ask You lift my eyes up to heaven, to raise me into the life of Your Kingdom, and exalt me with Your glory.

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