Sunday Prayers 14/8

Prayers of Adoration & Confession

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During our prayer of Confession, I have focused on words from Psalm 82, a challenging Psalm, where God sits in judgement!  Let us pray.

Holy God, Three-in-One, Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit,
We know that you are a God of justice,
Who created a world of intricate complexity and interdependent wholeness,
With earth, sea and sky,
Fish and sea monsters, plants, birds, animals, and humanity,
You declared it all good,
And you commissioned us to care for it.
To look after the earth,
And to speak up for the voiceless.
We thank you and praise you for the gift of this earth,
For the beauty that surrounds us, and
For the relationships that enrich our lives.
We belong to you.

But Holy God, through the Psalmist, we hear your Spirit asking us:
why is the world so broken?
why do we allow profits to come through exploitation?
why do we allow gaps between rich and poor to increase further?
why do we continue to uphold those who have done wrong to others?

And Christ, who overturned the tables in the temple, we hear you call on us
to give justice to those on the margins,
to maintain the right of the poor,
to rescue the weak and needy, and
to deliver them from those who exploit.

Loving God, we turn to you: the problems we see are overwhelming, too many for us to solve.
Holy Spirit, we turn to you: we hold our world before you, with all its division.
Jesus Christ, Lamb of God: heal our sorrow, take away the sin of the world, grant us peace.
Amen

Siblings in Christ, do not despair. Jesus came into a world that was broken,
speaking for the powerless, challenging the powerful, and suffering death on a cross.
Hear the good news of our faith:
Through Christ, in Christ, and because of Christ, our sin is forgiven.
Thanks be to God.

Natalie Sims, offered for worship 14/08/2022, Pentecost 10C