Talking about reflecting wisdom with the young at heart

Prayers of Adoration & Confession

Life giving God, great mother who delights in wisdom,
Guide us to the workings of wisdom in creation,
Let us hear her singing in the ground we walk on
and see the colours she weaves through the anatomy of the world.

For Sophia is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness. Although she is but one, she can do all things, and while remaining in herself, she renews all things; in every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets; for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom.

Jesus, who nourishes us and demonstrates a life lived with wisdom,
Teach us to grasp the hand wisdom extends.
Open our minds to the knowledge of others
and show us how to nurture wisdom in our communities.

Sophia is more beautiful than the sun, and excels every constellation of the stars. Compared with the light she is found to be superior, for it is succeeded by the night, but against wisdom evil does not prevail. She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other, and she orders all things well.

Holy Spirit, flowing within us and through us,
Continue to push us toward the path of wisdom.
Encourage us not to fear our own ignorance.
Lend insight to our understanding; expand our questions and our ways of knowing.

In our hearts we confess to you, our God,
to the times we have listened to the loudest voice, rather than the wisest,
to ignoring knowledge that does not suit our own inclinations,
and to becoming complacent in our seeking for wisdom, thinking we have her captured.
Let us remember we are your people,
Amen

Believe the Good News that comes from God: In Christ we are forgiven.
Thanks be to God

Amelia Ware, offered for worship 16/9/18, Pentecost 17

Prayers of the people

O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will send your Wisdom, Sophia herself, that she may richly bless us in our living.

May she bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from preventable causes.

May she bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of colour, LGBTIQ people.

May she bless us with discomfort – at the easy, simplistic “answers” we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

May she bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be “fixed” anytime soon, and the understanding that our leaders are human, not gods.

May she bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.

May she bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.

May she bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.

May Sophia cleanse us and bless us with the all consuming passion of Jesus Christ.

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever. Amen.

[This prayer is a prayer of passion, tears and anger. It is part of the prayer from the Opening Inaugural Event, Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC on January 18, 2009 by The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire.]

adapted for worship by Ian Ferguson, 16/9/18, Pentecost 17