Prayers of Adoration & Confession

Watch or 8:14

Breathe deep and imagine yourself in the easter garden with Jesus…

  1. Morning has broken like the first morning;
    blackbird has spoken like the first bird.
    Praise for the singing, praise for the morning,
    praise for them, springing fresh from the word.

We join our voices with the birds of the garden praising you Holy One:

  • we sing out wonder for all you have made
  • we sing out adoration for the blessed gift of your only child who lived, died and lives again to bathe all things in the light of your new day
  • we sing out thanks for your coming reign of love, growing to flower among us now by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
  1. Sweet the rain’s new fall sunlit from heaven,
    like the first dewfall on the first grass.
    Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden,
    sprung from completeness where his feet pass.

Risen Jesus, we long to walk beside you in the garden of creation fulfilled.
We confess all that causes us to stumble on that path of delight:

  • the unrestrained violence,
  • the selfish greed,
  • the corrupt sense of human freedom that neglects the freedom of the grass, the birds, the forests, the fish and the seas.

Forgive us. Empower us to live in the freedom of love, following your footsteps into God’s new dawn

3.  Mine is the sunlight; mine is the morning
born of the one light Eden saw play.
Praise with elation, praise every morning,
God’s recreation of the new day.

Word of Grace
The Psalmist sings:
Weeping may linger for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.

Hear Christ’s word of healing grace to us all,
springing from the breaking morning of God’s new day:
Your sin is forgiven. Thanks be to God.

Ian Ferguson, offered for worship 01/05/2022, Easter 3C

SONG:  Morning has broken, by Eleanor Farjeon 1881-1965, from Enlarged Songs of Paise 1931
by permission Oxford University Press, from Together in Song, Harper Collins Religious.
Reproduced with permission under ONE LICENCE # 604502

Prayers of the people

Watch or 49:44

Loving God who is the wind and the waves

We pray for the World.
We pray for the ordinary people of Ukraine: may they feel supported.
May villagers and other civilians who have lost their homes, find shelter.
May we all find a peace-filled and compassionate vision for the future.

In your mercy, hear our prayers.
We plant our feet on the ground.
We reach out and imagine the weight of a full net.
We feel the weight of the net.
We feel the weight of the bounty Jesus offers.

We pray for the Church.
We pray for Uniting Church congregations and other congregations rebuilding after floods.
We pray for congregations focusing on housing. We pray for congregations focussing on social inclusion.
We pray for Uniting Church members trying to build a better world.
We pray for the Ukrainian community of Victoria: may they continue to draw strength from their faith tradition.

In your mercy, hear our prayers.
We plant our feet on the ground.
We reach out and imagine the weight of a full net.
We feel the weight of the net.
We feel the weight of the bounty Jesus offers.

We pray for those in need: may we all find strength, somehow.
May our families support us. May friends doing new things, inspire us.
In particular we pray for Dave Hall, as he concludes
his respectful and imaginative ministry to young people in this place.
May he find strength and inspiration in his new role.
May carers find rest.
We pray with those watching at home: may they feel included.
May we all feel able to love, again.

In your mercy, hear our prayers.
We plant our feet on the ground.
We reach out and imagine the weight of a full net.
We feel the weight of the net.
We feel the weight of the bounty Jesus offers.

In the name of Christ, guiding us, filling our nets.
Praise,
Amen

Jim Kilpatrick, offered for worship 01/05/2022, Easter 3C