Beautiful and loving God, we cast our gaze towards You as we bring our own sacrifice and praise into the house of the Lord.   Once lost, now we are found for “Where can we go from Your spirit? Or where can we flee from Your presence? If we take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead us, and Your right hand shall hold us fast” (Psalm 139: 7, 9-10 NRSV). Teach us all things about You. Unfold Your revelations and bind us to Your word so that we can be a blessing to all who know us and to those who don’t.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10) but it is not the end, because the completion of love is the end of fear. Yes, it is a scary world but because of God’s love we will not fear, we will not falter, and we will not accept the darkness of the world. We will move forward in light and truth because God is never anywhere other than with us. “And even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4), God is always with us.