Prayers of Adoration & Confession
O God, your life flows among us like a river.
Out of the hiddenness of heavenly mystery,
along the Christ way of earth,
there flows your Spirit,
carving a course for us,
carrying us on into the ocean of your love.
We praise and worship you for the love
poured out for us in Christ through the Holy Spirit.
And we call upon your mercy.
Forgive us our dry and thirsty faith.
Have mercy on us in the drought of our living and loving.
Raise us up out of the polluted earth-choking waters
of selfishness and greed,
violence and prejudice,
injustice and oppression.
Wash us clean in the pure reconciling waters
of grace and peace,
fill the reservoirs of our hope,
and make us fecund silt
carried in the nourishing flood
of your will for the world.
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ
our source of living water. Amen.
The water of life flows again today with grace and forgiveness.
Drink deeply of Christ’s Wisdom Word:
Your sin is forgiven.
Thanks be to God.
by Ian Ferguson, offered for worship, 16/6
Prayers of the people
Gracious God, we pray for the world in which you delight.
We pray for all those whose small or large acts of love and joy make this world a world we can delight in.
And we pray for those whose circumstances rob them of delight,
whose experience of poverty or war or disease make the world harsh, joyless and chaotic.
God of wisdom, giver of joyful wisdom, hear our prayer.
Loving God, we pray for those who exercise power and authority in this world,
and on whose decisions the welfare of communities of men, women and children, and of creation itself, depends.
We pray for them to resist their own pride and ambition
and instead to see themselves as servants of your justice and wisdom.
God of wisdom, giver of wisdom, hear our prayer.
Compassionate God, we pray for those whose lives are broken by prejudice or hate or malice.
Keep us alert to our own prejudices and the ways our own attitudes impact others.
We especially pray for those in this country and this city who are victims of racism.
God of wisdom, giver of wisdom, hear our prayer.
Merciful God, we pray for the community of Christians around the world.
In the midst of its diversity of cultures, languages, races and nations.
May it be a community whose witness to your love and truth is confident and wise in its word,
and bold in its deeds.
God of wisdom, giver of wisdom, hear our prayer.
God of Community, we pray for one another.
May we be wise, truthful, forgiving and loving in our dealings with each other.
May what we share as a community spill over into the communities in which we live and serve.
God of wisdom, giver of wisdom, hear our prayer.
All these prayers we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, the unusual wisdom of God.
Amen.
by Geoff Thompson, offered for worship 16/6
Leave A Comment