Prayers of Adoration & Confession

Come let us pray together for we are God’s people …

Majestic, powerful God we hear your voice
In thunder, lightning and pounding rain
In the roar of stunning waterfalls
In the trickling of water over stony creeks
In the stillness of silent ponds.

God of the prophets we hear your voice
Throughout history and today by the Jordan river
In the proclamation of repentance for forgiveness of sins
Through the offering of baptism by water and
In the prophecy of the One who will follow.

Holy Spirit, descending dove we hear your voice
Proclaim ‘You are my Son, the Beloved’.
And we know that we too are beloved by you.
We are held in your heart and sent out by you
To love you, all people and all creation.  Amen

God of majesty, prophecy and love we offer our confessions to you.

Forgive us for the times we are deaf to your voice
Caught up in many concerns, unable to still ourselves enough to listen.
As we move into this new year help us to create space for stillness.

Forgive us for the times when we are distracted by many voices
Shouting, angry, bitter voices drowning out those who have no voice.
As we move into this new year help us to listen with our whole hearts.

Forgive us for the times when we fail to listen to our bodies
Pushing ourselves to do more, to work harder, to be available
As we move into this new year help us to remember that we are beloved.  Amen

And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’ Mark 1:11
Listen to this voice, the voice from heaven and know
That in the name of Jesus, baptized and blessed by the river Jordan
Our sins are forgiven.
Thanks be to God.  Amen.

Saide Cameron, offered for worship 10/1/2021, Baptism of Jesus B

Prayers of the people

In the song we have just sung, we sang these words:

And the Dove descended and the Old Road ended
And the New Road wakened from a dream.

I’d like to use that imagery of “ending and dreaming,” to gather our prayers. It’s imagery that can help us bring into our prayers the struggles, and anxieties our world has been full of this week: the ongoing COVID challenges here and elsewhere, the turmoil in the US, overnight tragedies here in suburban Melbourne and Indonesia.

Let us pray:

Gracious God, we pray for those who find themselves at the end and unable to dream: refugees, those experiencing mental illness, those persecuted because of their race, politics, sexuality or religion.
May the life of Jesus help them dream even a little.

Loving God, we pray for the dreamers who have been pushed to the end of their families or nations and communities because their dreams are too inconvenient: the prophets for the environment, those who labour for reconciliation, those who support the weak.
May the life of Jesus keep them dreaming.

Inspiring God, we pray for those whose dreams are just beginning, those who have visions of life that are only just forming, who grab hold of sparks and turn them into lights of love for the unloved, hope for the fearful, and friendship for the lonely.
May our own following of Jesus help to foster their dreams.

God of hope we pray for those whose grieve the end of their dreams, those whose lives are drawing to an end, those who lives have been taken suddenly, those who grieve the loss of loved ones.

In some moments of silence, I invite you pray these prayers for nations, neighbourhoods, friends, relatives, colleagues known to you who are need new road and new dreams.

Quiet

Gracious God, grant us, this community to live out our baptism, to daily leave the old road and take the new road that Jesus has first walked.   AMEN.

Geoff Thompson, offered for worship 10/1/2021, Baptism of Jesus B