Prayers of Adoration & Confession

Watch or 12:29

The kingdom of God is justice and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit
Come, Lord, and open in us the gates of your kingdom

Holy one
You are our God, you are the centre of our lives, and you have given us all that we have.
The food we eat, the water we drink and the wonderful and unique land we walk on.
We, your people, are overwhelmed by the love and faithfulness you have shown us.
That for you, there is no race, colour, gender, nationality, or religion that excludes us
from your radical love. That when we reach out you are always there.

Brother Jesus,
You walked this earth as we do, you made a life with us, you taught us how to live,
and sacrificed your life for us. And you left us with a new commandment,
that we love one another, as you love.

Holy Spirit.
We breathe you in and you revitalize, strengthen our lives,
helping us to open our hearts to the world.

Holy Three in One
You have given us a new Commandment, and you have asked that we love,
not with a passive love, but an active, radical love. To love as Jesus loved.
From a Chosen people, you embraced the world and made a place for all of us in your heart.

Forgive us when we fail to love as you love.
When our courage fails and in our fear we exclude, discriminate,
and marginalize those who do not look like us, think like us, eat like us, believe like us.
When in our complacency, we fail to see you in the multitude of faces around us.
Forgive us when we try to close our hearts and minds,
and refuse to learn when you are turning our world upside down,
just as you revolutionized Peter’s world.
So “who are we to think we can oppose God?”

Amen

The kingdom of God is justice and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit
Come, Lord, and open in us the gates of your kingdom

Word of Grace
Holy one
In your great love, forgiveness and faithfulness, you gave us your Son,
and made a place for the whole of humanity in your heart.
So we know that, in Christ, through Christ and because of Christ,

Our sin is forgiven.
Thanks be to God.
Amen

Helen Burnham, offered for worship 15/05/2022, Easter 4C

SONG: The Kingdom of God © 2001 Taize Community, Ateliers et Presses de Taize
from More Voices (146) United Church of Canada, Woodlake Publishing Inc.

Prayers of the people

Watch or 51:32

Creator God, we come before you with hopeful, hurting hearts.
The world is more divided than ever,
with the voices of the powerful shouting ever louder…
and leaving the quieter, vulnerable voices behind. Y
et we know, God, that you call us to listen.

[pause]

Loving God, move us to hear the voices of those left out, left behind and ignored.
For us to look beyond our preconceived ideas,
our pre-judgements about what “those people” might look like, sound like, be like.
Help us to remember that everyone belongs,
no matter their gender, sexuality, race, age or disability.
We all have a place here. We all deserve to feel safe, and that we belong.

Help us, too, dear God, to act. Let our listening be an active sort,
that hears the needs of the most vulnerable around us,
and amplifies their voices, so that they – and we –
may drown out the hate-filled shouting of the powerful.
Let our collective love shine out fiercely, like the bright flame of our Easter candle.
May we as a church be an active model of radical, grace-filled protective love in the world.

[pause]

God, we also pray for deeper listening and active love in the wider world.
The ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and elsewhere;
the continuing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic;
and the escalating threat of climate change.
Everywhere, people, communities and the natural world are crying out.
May we hear them, and act.

In the same way, we pray for discernment, ahead of the federal election on Saturday.
We ask for grace as we ponder all we have heard during this bitter campaign.
May we vote with the fire of love in our hearts.

[pause]

Amen

Clare Keogh, offered for worship by Kenna Morrison, 15/05/2022, Easter 5C