Prayers of Adoration & Confession

We praise and worship you, our Good Shepherd,
for you seek out and save the lost –
lost souls,
disoriented lives,
off course communities,
a world gone the wrong way.
You come calling with love.
You never give up seeking
to bring us back to the way, the truth and the life.

Holy One, like the woman with her lamp,
shine the light of your peace
and the knowledge of your grace
into every dark corner of our world.

Look into the depths of our hearts.
Help us to know our own lostness,
and to enter your searching embrace.

Shine your Christ light
until all the lost are found,
and your people live
as one diverse family
in the joy of your presence.
Amen.

Our Good Shepherd God says,
“Rejoice with me, for I have found
my sheep that was lost.”

Hear the word that carries us home.
Your sin is forgiven.
Thanks be to God.

Ian Ferguson, offered for worship 15/9/19, Pentecost 14

Prayers of the people

With your breath God of love you created and continue to create.
With our breath we pray for our beautiful fragile wildly wonderful world.
We pray for nations devastated by climate change and disaster,
for people whose homes and livelihoods are threatened.
We pray with aching hearts for the devastation of burning forests,
rising sea levels, bleached coral reefs, parched lands and melting ice caps.
We give thanks for people everywhere whose hearts are burning for justice
gathering, sailing, singing, speaking out, writing, demanding change.

With your eyes God of love you see into the hearts of all people.
Open our eyes as we pray so that we can see clearly and with love.
We pray for the church and people of faith throughout the world.
We pray for Ian, Peter and Dave, for our Moderator Denise and President Deidre.
We pray for steadfast hearts, overflowing with a passion for justice
as we seek to follow you into dark and difficult places where despair is strong.
We give thanks for the many blessings that shape our worship in this place
and the joy of offering welcome to all who walk through our doors.

With your heart God of love you hold the world in your tender embrace.
Hold our broken hearts gently and mend them with threads of gold as we pray.
We pray for our asylum seeker friends near and far away, living in uncertainty
and for Olive Way guests whose lives are rich with stories, waiting to be heard.
We pray for family, friends, neighbours and colleagues facing challenges,
experiencing illness in body and mind, loneliness, lack of love and despair.
We give thanks for the many ways that care is offered and shown in this place,
may all this, all that we do and say be gathered and known in your goodness.  Amen

Saide Cameron, offered for worship by Ray Cameron, 15/9/19, Pentecost 14