You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

O Lord, why did You forbid us to make images and bow down to them and serve them? Surely in part because You alone are God, and You are spirit, and those who worship You must worship You in spirit and in truth, and every image we craft inevitably distorts who You are. But also because You made us to be Your image bearers on earth, subduing and ruling it as Your representatives. Yet we confess that we, both as individuals and as members of the one human race united in our father Adam, have rebelled against You, bringing Your judgment not only on us but also on the cosmos itself, by which You subjected the whole creation to futility. But, O marvelous and merciful Father, You did it “in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” And so You revealed Yourself to us in just one perfect image, Your Son, “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” By Him, O God, “all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.”

Turn us away from all idols, we pray, and cause us to worship You alone, through Christ alone, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and apart from whom no one can come to You, but by whose blood we may be reconciled to You through faith. Send Your Holy Spirit to empower the preaching and teaching of Your Word all over the world, that innumerable millions might come to know Your Son our Lord Jesus, and through Him the forgiveness of sins and the joy of life everlasting. In His name we pray, amen.