O Great and Holy God, who created a thousand billion stars, who set your people upon the earth, who you created in your image for worship – for our souls to be grasped by your holiness, for our minds to be enlightened by your Truth, for our imaginations to be purified by your beauty, for our hearts to be opened by your grace, so that we may take flight in a relationship with you – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. With joy, we surrender our wills to your great purposes, to love and serve and proclaim and mirror your Excellencies to a hurting people in a wandering world. Use us to glorify yourself and help us to enjoy you by seeing your Truth and your inescapable beauty, as you reveal yourself to us in your Word.
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This prayer reflects the essence of a great definition of worship given by William Temple Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. Quickening of conscience by his holiness, nourishment of mind by his truth, the purifying of imagination by his beauty, the opening of our hearts to his love, the surrender of will to his purpose…William Temple 1939, readings in