Fifteen years ago, on January 4, 2004, The Chapel Without Walls held its first service of worship in the Hilton Head Middle School. Now, fifteen years and four locations later, we are gathered in The Cypress to celebrate our fifteenth anniversary. We thank God for His guidance of our congregation during the past decade and a half, and we praise Him for His grace and love for everyone who has ever participated in the life of our church. Therefore, let us with new confidence in a new year, worship God.
Pastoral Prayer
We give Thee profound thanks, O God of the universal Church of Jesus Christ, for Thy providential guidance of The Chapel Without Walls over the past fifteen years, and for the assurance we have that Thou wilt continue to lead us into the future, whatever it may hold for us. We thank Thee for the participation of everyone who has ever worshiped with us, and especially for those who now reside eternally with Thee in the kingdom of heaven. We pray for those who once were active in worship, and who now are physically unable to participate because of illness or disability. We express gratitude for all who remain active in the life of our congregation, and who contribute to the ecclesiastical spirit which continues to live among us.
As corporately we celebrate this milestone in our history, and individually we begin another year, we ask Thee to give to all of us a deepened awareness of Thy presence among us, and how it is that each day we are sustained ultimately only by Thee and by Thy grace. We praise Thee for one another, and for all the people in all our lives who have given meaning and substance to life. Show us how to find a greater and richer appreciation for all Thy gifts to us as we continue on through our lives, whatever may be their ultimate length.
Give to us a more profound sense of the mission of the Church of Jesus Christ in all its branches and denominations and congregational manifestations. We thank Thee that we are part of the Church, and that we share faith and commitment with countless millions of Christians in the contemporary world and down through history. As different and disparate as we are, convince us also that we are all one through him who called the Church into existence, Jesus Christ, Thy Son. Enable us to reflect more effectively his mission to the people around us. Now we pray together as he taught his first disciples, saying, Our Father….