Prayers of Adoration & Confession

As we pray, I will ask you to breath in & out and pause inviting Gods Presence –
Gods Breath, ‘in the Hebrew Roach Elohim’, into your being, ready to praise the Divine.
Breath in deeply, breath out slowly…. sense the quiet, calm, indwelling breath of life of the Spirit of God.

Let us pray.  We praise You O God, the one who breathes life into us.
For Jesus your Son & his gift to us through You, of the ongoing presence of your loving Holy Spirit.
We have the loss of the earthly presence of your Son, but Breath remains,
since He himself gives this life and breath to all living beings & mother Earth & the heavens

We praise you for this breath that helps us to remember you, focus on you & as a sign that you are with us.
Praise you for giving us the breath of life that empowers, offers wisdom & understanding & centres us.
Oh God we thank you for Spirits life – breath moving in our mouth, nose, lungs & body,
in the wind showing your mystery through touch on the skin,
hearing its force, seeing it effects on the waves, the trees moving, yet it is invisible & uncontainable.
Thank you for its renewing cooling and revitalising, when we are dispirited about the World,
have no life or energy left, are in despair & loneliness.

Praise you God for the Holy Spirit as the living concentrated love, energy & breath within us.
We praise you that we can experience you, recognise your hand, your breath in our selves & lives.
We thank you that when we breathe, it is a spiritual practise offering us life, calm, focus, centring and silence.

As we offer our prayers of confession, I will ask you to breathe in & out and pause,
inviting God’s Presence Gods Breath ‘Roach Elohim’, into your being. Breathe in deeply, breath out slowly.

We become aware of our shadow, our dark places our ways of restricting you God, giving up,
not opening ourselves to your breath of life, forgetting you, forgetting to ask for your help & advocacy,
though You are so close to each one of us.  We become preoccupied & forget that we are all
endowed with the breath of God reminding us to embrace others to breath in your love.

But You can transform. Let us accept your forgiveness, strengthen us, recognise your hand in our lives,
give us peace & awakening, light the dark, showing truth through your breath oh God.
God is blowing into you the pure essence of love…
From the dust God breathed into us and gave life & we can become anew.

As we declare & claim God’s forgiveness for us, breath again, breathing in God’s love & forgiveness
& know that in the name of Christ, our risen Saviour, our sins are forgiven.
Thanks, be God.  Amen

Please join me in singing O sing to the Lord
O sing to the Lord, O sing out a new song (3 times)
O sing to our God, O sing to our God.

Jenne Perlstein, offered for worship 17/05/2020, Easter 6A

Prayers of the people

  1. My name is Tim Budge and I will be leading Prayers of the People today. Wherever you are, welcome to this time of prayer and contemplation of our world and our place in it.

I will be using a series of images from Michael Leunig, please feel free to look at them, let them speak to you and guide you in your own thoughts and prayers.  You can view the prayers here via YouTube

  1. The first image was drawn by Leunig as a contribution for a Passion Play, performed by a Christian community in the Western suburbs many years ago. The image appeared on the windcheater worn by Jesus as the play followed the Stations of the Cross around Yarraville.

Feel free to look at this image. Let the drawing speak to you and guide your own reflections and prayers for the world. Feel free to speak out, to name the people, places and burdens that come to mind.

Loving God, we pray for our world. It is struggling at the moment, overburdened by wars, disease and environmental destruction. We particularly pray for people who are carrying the big burdens at the moment, especially in this time of pandemic. We pray for health workers, parents, carers. We pray for governments everywhere and the important decisions they need to make at the moment.

And we pray for those who are reaching for the stars. May they reach their dreams and continue to inspire us.

  1. We pray for individuals, family members, friends that we know, especially for those who might feeling a bit lost, uncertain or alone.
  2. We remember those whose lives are tough at the moment, for those caught in the storm, for those struggling with pain, doubt, fear, or illness. We name them and know that you, God, have heard us.

Holy Spirit, help them to hang on and help us to know how to support them

  1. Loving God, we pray for our church, its leaders, its ministry, its place in the world. We thank you for the people and the work of this church. We commit all its ministries, committees, activities and resources to you.
  2. Rachel Held Evans wrote “Imagine if every church became a place where everyone is safe, but no one is comfortable.” May our church be that place. May we be safe, may our church be a refuge for all but may your Spirit provoke the right level of discomfort in us, a holy unsettledness, an ever deepening desire to work for your Kingdom, in all its riskiness.
  3. We pray for the other things that are on our hearts, for what weighs us down and worries us and also for those around us who carry feel the same.
  4. Guide us in decisions we have to make, choices big and small. Help us to find wise counsel, to ask for support. We name people, issues and decisions that are most on our mind and bring them to God.
  5. Gracious and healing God, in this time of pandemic, we pray for the right focus. Help us to quarantine ourselves from fear. Help us to resist isolation from this world. Instead, may our compassion be contagious, may our love be infectious. For we ask in your name.

Amen

Tim Budge, offered for worship, 17/05/2020, Easter 6A