OPENING WORDS

Psalm 89:5-8

⁵ Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,
    your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
⁶ For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?
    Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord,
⁷ a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones,
    and awesome above all who are around him?
⁸ O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are,
    O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you?

INTRODUCTION

The church is not merely a collection of individual believers. It is a community. And true community shares a common purpose. The desire for a permanent facility for Trinity is primarily so that we can further leverage our resources for gospel success. And while many of those successes are individual, the greatest successes occur in the context of the community of faith itself: a people who worship in Spirit and truth together; a people who experience life together; a people who spur one another on in their callings together. Biblical community both desires and demands these things, and we are on the cusp of seeing even more of God’s kindness to us at Trinity. Today, pray along these lines.

PRAYER

1. Think of the people at Trinity—not the pastors and staff, but people just like you—who have built you up in the faith. Thank God for them and the specific ways in which they have built you up.
2. Specific decisions about church buildings often divide a church community. But this doesn’t have to be the case. Ask the Lord to unite us in purpose, and that grace would characterize not only our next 5 months together but also our next 50 years.
3. Pastor and theologian Eugene Peterson once remarked that the church that we want has become the enemy of the church that we have. Trinity and its people are wonderful but, rightly seen, are covered in the same spiritual warts as every other congregation. Pray that with a new building we would not become enamored with who we might become to the detriment of who we are.