Be delivered by grace
Merciful Lord,
hear with favour the prayers of your people,
so that we who by nature deserve your judgement,
may mercifully be delivered by your grace,
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Amen.
As we consider this collect, we can connect the language found within it to the Old Testament Tabernacle. As a model of creation, it shapes our understanding of the Living God and how we are to draw near to him. In our prayers we approach the thrice holy God, enthroned between the cherubim above the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant.
The reality of judgment that all humanity deserves is located at the centre of this collect. Having rejected the Word of Life, and wallowing in filthy sin, we are rightly considered objects of God’s wrath. The cherubim bearing a flaming sword prevents us from returning into the presence of the Most Holy God; fallen humanity cannot enter the Most Holy Place without suffering the deadly consequences of God’s judgment.
Yet there is hope; although our sins are great, his mercy is greater. This is not mere presumption on our part but is grounded upon God as he has revealed himself to be. It is a wonderful gospel truth that we worship a God whose nature is always to have mercy. Indeed, the Father resides upon a mercy seat and a throne of grace. With contrite hearts we allow the light to shine onto our sinful nature, safe in the promise that we will be mercifully delivered by God’s grace.
So we come to God with great confidence, asking that he might hear the prayers of his people. For that is what we are – not those who hold onto an empty hope that some strange divine power might hear our voices cast into the vastness of space, but the people who have been bought by the blood of the Divine Son and who now belong to him as the most prized of possessions. As the burning incense rises out of the altar set before the veil separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy place, so the prayers of the Church rise up into the presence of the Living God. Our prayers are brought before the Lord by our Great High Priest who has opened the way through the curtain; we have confidence to enter by the blood of Jesus through the new and living way that he has opened for us.
This world has no hope for those who fail. This society has no room for the redemption of those who have been found to fall short. We find ourselves in a culture where few dare to admit guilt, instead choosing to hide wrongdoing in the dark and redirecting the blame elsewhere. Half-hearted and hollow apologies are offered only when there is no other choice. In contrast, the followers of Jesus Christ walk a different way. We can openly admit our faults and wrongdoings, not with brazen arrogance, but humbly repenting of our manifold sins and wickedness. By returning to this path of penitence, the Church will regain its missional and prophetic voice, holding out the life of Christ to a dying world.
So pray this with me:
Merciful Lord,
hear with favour the prayers of your people,
so that we who by nature deserve your judgement,
may mercifully be delivered by your grace,
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Amen.