Gracious and Merciful Father, We come before you to confess our sin as Your redeemed and beloved children. May Your Spirit alone convict us of our sin and remind us of our pardon in Christ through repentance. We confess that we too often fail to recognize the seasons You have sovereignly determined and how we are to act wisely in Christ as a result. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8) W...

Dear Family at Christ Community, This Sunday we will arrive at the Gather's first of many encouragements to gratefully take joy in the good gifts given to us by God at the end of chapter 2. He specifically calls us to take joy in the food and drink born of our labors. This grateful enjoyment proves pleasing to the Lord. In His good pleasure, He gives wisdom, knowledge, an...

Gracious and Merciful Father, We come before you to confess our sin as Your redeemed and beloved children. May Your Spirit alone convict us of our sin and remind us of our pardon in Christ through repentance. We confess that we too often despair over the results of our toil and fail to gratefully enjoy them as good gifts from Your hand in Christ. (Ecclesiastes 2:18-26) We...

Gracious and Merciful Father, We come before you to confess our sin as Your redeemed and beloved children. May Your Spirit alone convict us of our sin and remind us of our pardon in Christ through repentance. We confess that we too often fail to live wisely in union with Christ, because we don't see the lasting benefits from having done so (Ecclesiastes 2:12-17). We confe...

Dear Family at Christ Community, This Sunday we will hear from Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 and partake of the Lord's Table. One of the lessons of this section of Ecclesiastes is the impermanence of the things we do to create lives filled with earthly goodness and beauty. Consider how David Gibson puts it in his book, Living Life Backward: "We long for lives of permanence in a...

Gracious and Merciful Father, We come before You to confess our sin as Your redeemed and beloved children. May Your Spirit alone convict us of our sin and remind us of our pardon in Christ through repentance. We confess that we have often sought enduring joy and peace in the things of this world rather than in You (Ecclesiastes 2:1-11). We confess these things before You ...

Gracious and Merciful Father, We come before you to confess our sin as Your redeemed and beloved children. May Your Spirit alone convict us of our sin and remind us of our pardon in Christ through repentance.. We confess that we too often seek wisdom from the things under the sun as opposed to in Christ where You have called us to look (Ecclesiastes 1:12-18). We confess t...

Gracious and Merciful Father, We come before you to confess our sin as Your redeemed and beloved children. May Your Spirit alone convict us of our sin and remind us of our pardon in Christ through repentance. We confess that we too often lose hope because of our transience and fail to look to You for eternal meaning (Ecclesiastes 1:4-11). We confess these things before Yo...

Dear Family at Christ Community, Our journey in Ecclesiastes begins this Sunday in 1:1-3. Given the paradoxical gravity and elusive nature of the book's contents, we will benefit from spiritual nourishment as we embark on this quest. We will seek this nourishment from the Lord's Table as part of our worship service. Please remember that Jesus invites us to come to His ...

Gracious and Merciful Father, We come before you to confess our sin as Your redeemed and beloved children. May Your Spirit alone convict us of our sin and remind us of our pardon in Christ through repentance. We confess that we too often fail to seek the answers to life's hardest questions in You looking instead to the things of the earth in our own understanding (Ecclesi...