Erik Jakob Ekman, A Prayer
O Lord, our God, we thank you for opening the way into the sanctuary. We thank you that we live in a kingdom in which sin can actually be taken away. We thank you that the glorious time of the New Testament has come when we can have an open and free wellspring against sin and impurity. We thank you that you have laid a way into the sanctuary. We thank you, our dear Lord Jesus Christ, that you came. It is so good that you have come. We ask you now to grant us the grace to proceed upon the new and living way. Let us not only sing and read about it, but actually walk upon it. Give us also, Lord, a sincere spirit that we might not walk before you in any deceit, Take away all of our hypocrisy and make us as innocent as children. Help us to trust in you and to be liberated from an evil conscience. Give us the grace to hold unwaveringly to the confession of hope and to look upon each other that we might restore and help one another. Take away our spiteful eyes and give us as loving eyes as yours, so that we might consider how we can restore and help. We also thank you that you are beginning to gather those who are yours into a church. Thank you for the movement which you have begun in this city and homeland. Help us, that all of your children may hold together in the fear of God until your glorious appearance. You have said that you will come soon, and we say from our hearts: Come soon, Lord Jesus! Amen.
[Prayer offered following Ekman's sermon, "The Living Way," on the occasion of the dedication of the Bethlehem Chapel in Gävle, Sweden, October 10, 1880.]