A Prayer of Dedication

We come before Your presence and
We ask You, Lord, to bless
The ardent labor of our hand;
Our hope and faithfulness;
This structure built of glass and steel,
Of wood, and fervent prayer — 
A sanctuary to reveal
Your living Spirit there.
 
We stand upon Your holy word — 
The covenants You’ve made;
Your quiet affirmations heard,
Your awesome works displayed.
Your promise we now boldly claim:
Whenever more than two
Are gathered in Your precious name,
There, in the midst are You.
 
We kneel before Your mighty throne
Upon this broken sod.
We know all power is Yours — alone,
Yet ours — as sons of God;
Your peace to guide our daily walk,
Your strength to make us bold;
To add another to our flock,
Another to Your fold.
 
We fall upon Your altar, full
Of mercy, full of grace.
The fields are white to harvest with
The lost of every race.
Compel us, Lord, within this church
To reach beyond it’s doors,
And, in our many worlds, to search
Our many distant shores.