Deus Misereatur

  “ Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture ” (Psalm 100:1-3). Joy-filling LORD, Creation-making Lord, People-preserving LORD, it is to you we pray, O Lord, hear our prayer. First, we give you our thanks for upholding us through this last year. We specifically give you thanks for ( think of definite things to give thanks for here… ). May our whole lives be serving you with gladness. O Lord, hear our prayer.   Further, Lord, we implore you to look on those who don’t know you. To take notice of those who don’t know that you are God. To watch over and restore those who have forgotten that you made us, and we are yours (…). Bring them into your sheepfold, call them all by name. O Lord, hear our prayer.   We also ask you to govern our nation, with all of its present strife. We hav...

Thanksgiving Pt 1 Psalm 100 Lord God, through this reading and addressing of Psalm 100, come and ease the grief or worry or fretting or distractions that may be ransacking our hearts, and fill us with your joy by the Holy Spirit and through the presence and mediation of Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen. Before the Turkey is cooked and eaten, before the family blows in and blows right back out, before the perspiration trickles down and stings your eyes, before the refrigerator gets stuffed with leftovers, it’s good to remember “Thanksgiving”. This is a good time to reflect on Thanksgiving, on real, genuine thanksgiving, not just as some annual time of panic and pressure. And it is a great time to ruminate over what we hopefully will do in the midst of all the hustle and mayhem. To guide us, we are going to delve into Psalm 100 – “ A Psalm for Giving Thanks .” A pattern : Before we jump into the Psalm, we should see that there is a pattern to it. First,  vers...