Prayer of Adoration

God of mercy and infinite grace
You show us what love is
You love us, not because of what we do or who we are
You embrace us as Children of God
And offer us mercy again and again.

Jesus of Compassion,
You call us to live with compassion,
You challenge us to look beyond ourselves
To see people who are in need
To speak up for the voiceless, for animals and plant life
To call for urgent action to care for the climate
You show us the way.

Spirit of wisdom
You move among the many different parts of society
You speak with the poor and the powerful
You meet with the enemy as well as the friend
You reach out to all.

We adore you.

Amen

Prayer of Confession

God of mercy and infinite grace,
Forgive us when do not act as you would have us act,
When we take part in violence,
When we justify the use of violence,
When killing is done in our name.

Kyrie eleison, kyrie eleison
Kyrie eleison, kyrie eleison

Christ of compassion,
Forgive us when we do not love our neighbours as ourselves,
When we do not engage with our enemies,
When we do not recognise and respond when there is need
When we expect things in return.

Kyrie eleison, kyrie eleison
Kyrie eleison, kyrie eleison

Spirit of Wisdom,
Forgive us when we focus too much on our own concerns,
our perspectives and our opinions
When we do not open our minds and hearts to different voices and views
When we do not act wisely and instead are impetuous and opportunist

Kyrie eleison, kyrie eleison
Kyrie eleison, kyrie eleison

Amen

We are offered grace,
a grace from God that enables us to live as children of God.
And so we can be confident that our sins are forgiven:

Thanks be to God

by Kirsty Bennett, offered for worship, 10/11/19

Prayers of the People

Take a deep breath be in the presence of God, the Father of the Just One Jesus.
God you have given us your son Jesus to show us true Justice, in the Hebrew – Tzedekah.
God, help us to know that we are obliged to act on this to bring about your full and just Creation .

Jesus was justice – he acted. He followed the law, the obligation of justice – Tzedekah.
God help us to move to enact your justice through our mouth our hands and feet.

Jesus is the true model of walking the talk of justice, of doing Tzedekah.
We pray your spirit will  move us as your Church, to act in justice
not waiting for love to fill us or for the worthy cause or those we know or care about.
Help us to act and to be activists to change our society and to act with the oppressed,
those  in poverty, those pushed away , those who are marginalized.
Those who make us feel uncomfortable, who smell, who are loud and demanding.

Help us to use our hands and feet and mouths, Christ’s hands, feet and mouths,
to advocate, to motivate our community and the world,
bring the redistribution of wealth and power.
And through Tzedekah to offer generosity and social concern,
especially toward the poor and vulnerable.
Let us be Tzedekah in the world NOW; doing, acting,
to right wrongs and bring restorative justice for the First Nations people of this land.

Life is unfair and unjust but we pray that we do not become complacent
as Government multi nationals, war machines, and skeptical voters have become.

Oh God, free the prisoners, heal the sight for the blind, set the oppressed free,
right wrongs, give all human beings their due as creations of God
……actually no, God… rather move us to do this.
So that we can act as Jesus acted – touch the  untouchable,
heal weeping wounds and psychoses, throw over tables,
turn the other cheek, stand beside, speak out
when we see sexual harassment or hear racist comments.
God of Justice through Jesus’s doing, move us to fulfill this obligation.
Pray we can emulate and embrace the Tzededkah of Jesus to do as he has done.

We pray as always that those in power, the mining companies,
those cutting down the Amazon forests, those destroying the oceans,
they know that the actions they are taking are not justice.
We pray that we may stop and ask we collude in our buying of items that pollute, made by slaves.

We don’t pray for the activists who are standing up to the mining companies
nor do we pray for those who want to silence them.
Rather, we pray for us to act as the activists are doing, to  do as  Jesus did;
to voice as Tzedekah asks us, to ask about the Government’s repression
of radical comment in our media by strident, just women.

We pray they may act in justice for creation,  for justice for all beings.
God, we are powerless to change the cosmos to restore the original Eden.
But we believe that through your justice you will do what we cannot,
that you will pour rain on to the raging fires in our country,
And do Justice for those suffering there.

Let us be and do Tzedekah now.

Justice justice you shall pursue,
You have told us this twice and you sent
the living embodiment of this through your son Jesus.
Move our hands our feet our voices to do justice as he did.

Take a breath a deep breath of justice and righteousness. Let Tzedekah reign.

Focus on our hands, feet, mouth, asking – where is our justice? Oh God, It is us.

In Jesus’ name we pray.

Amen.

by Jenne Perlstein, offered for worship, 10/11/19