Heavenly Father, King of Creation, there is no backyard, barrio, or black hole over which you are not King. Our thoughts are too small, but yours are not. All authority on heaven and earth has been given to your Son, the Fisher-King, who has quickened creation toward its liberation and redemption. The full implications of your limitless Lordship are being revealed in countless renderings, both seen and unseen.

Our nation has chosen a peculiar form of idolatry that sheds the blood of unborn babies while trumpeting the anthem of “ending hate.” Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this scourge of spiritual schizophrenia will be subdued by the glorious grace of Christ. This, we know, will happen per your perfect plan.

Help us not to salve our guilt in politics or online squawking. Forgive us for washing our hands in the polluted waters of sinister propensities and rigid materialism. Physical diseases aren’t healed by a doctor independent of your grace. Neither will national healing come through politics independent of the grace of revival.

Purge the execrable ideas from our thinking. Especially grant Trinity Reformed Church repentance so that we may stop assigning blame to other groups while ignoring the log in our own eyes. Help us to stop broadcasting our acrimony toward unbelievers on social media rather than praying for their salvation. When the enemy spews the premeditated, fiend-like rancor of violence and lies, let us not respond with violence and lies. If the enemy circulates thousands of absurd falsehoods, let us circulate thousands of righteous prayers in response.

We thank you for the work you’ve given us: the mother who raises her children, the father who works a job, and the children who make progress in their studies. Help us to discover the treasure and develop the potencies you’ve placed in nature and human life. May we have the inspiring impulse to work as unto the Lord and accept the responsibility to work faithfully, diligently, and skillfully. There is no such thing as important work versus unimportant work. There is only fruitful work versus fruitless work. May our work prove so fruitful that it goes hand in hand with Christ’s reconquest of the entire life of the world.

You’ve promised that through the Messiah you “will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers” (Mal. 4:6). We desire that this promise manifests in our midst. Give parents the fortitude to raise their children in the paideia of the Lord. Help them to pass on the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Help parents to see that it is a damnable error to instruct their kids theoretically in the faith, but never require them to bring it into daily practice. We confess this is an ugly pattern that we are susceptible to; a pattern our kids learn at home by watching their parents. Forgive us and grant repentance.

Give our daughters a temper to love and be loved. Sanctify them that they wouldn’t be devious (Prov. 14:2), greedy (Prov. 1:19), or joyless (Prov. 10:28). Help them not to love money more than wisdom (Prov. 3:13-14). Help them to develop a strong work ethic (Prov. 26:13-16). Through the light of Christ, make our daughters lovely (1 Pt. 3:1-7).

Give our sons an ambition to eschew laziness. Where the active principle is lacking, stir their souls with a Spiritual kick in the romp to begin serving you, like Christ, through Golgothic self-denial (Phil. 2:5-11). Give them purpose to acquire valuable skills; discipline to read meaningful books; and humility to use their physical strength to serve the weak. May they learn to earn respect by their self-control, which is part of the fruit of the Spirit. May their guide to life be Jesus Christ rather than Andrew Tate.

We desire to keep our kids in the faith, in the church, and in Christ, for the entirety of their lives. This matters to us because of the gospel and the promise that the New Covenant of Christ’s blood is for the least to the greatest (Jer. 31:34), for the good of the parents and “their children after them” (Jer. 32:39). Christ washes his people from all the guilt of their sin and forgives them (Jer. 33:8). The New Covenant is new because of Christ’s resurrection, which expands rather than shrinks the covenant. May we not be dragged into the Enlightenment muddle of separating our kids from God’s covenant promises.

We ask that you guard the members of TRC against the distortion of gracism, which huffs grace, grace, grace, with an effete grace that accomplishes nothing. May we, instead, teach and embody a fully-orbed gospel in our church and our homes. May it be clear that the gospel has a moral effect on the desires rather than a license for more sin. The gospel transforms sinners into saints by supplying a great company of resources to battle sin, death, and the devil.

Your Word has revealed an entire form of life, thought, and worship. It establishes for your people, the purer center of the steady working of the Holy Spirit. May we, in the year 2025, take hold of these resources that are uniquely transformative because of the work of the Holy Spirit, especially prayer, the Lord’s Supper, the Bible, pastors, elders, hymn singing, parents, friends, and fellowship.

Heavenly Father, keep us from idols.

We pray this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.