A Prayer for Sunday Worship

From the Valley of Vision

O Lord,
We commune with you every day,
but week days are worldly days,
and secular concerns reduce heavenly impressions.
We bless you therefore for the day sacred to our souls
when we can wait upon you and be refreshed.
We thank you for the institutions of the faith
by which we draw near to you and you to us.
We rejoice in another Lord’s Day
when we call off our minds from the cares of the world
and attend upon you without distraction.
Let our retreat to you be devout,
our conversation edifying,
our reading holy,
our hearing profitable,
that our souls may be renewed and lifted up.
We are going to the house of prayer,
pour on us the spirit of grace and supplication.
We are going to the house of praise,
awaken in us every grateful and cheerful emotion.
We are going to the house of instruction,
give testimony to the Word preached,
and glorify it in the hearts of all who hear;
may it enlighten the ignorant,
awaken the careless, reclaim the wandering,
establish the weak, comfort the feeble-minded,
and make ready a people for their Lord.

Be a sanctuary to all who cannot come.
Forget not those who never come.
And do bestow on us
benevolence toward our dependents,
forgiveness toward our enemies,
peaceableness toward our neighbors,
and openness toward our fellow-Christians.